Photo: Hot Furnace · CC BY-SA 4.0Work, pay and getting to work in Forest Hill
1% of workers have no commute at all; Louisiana has 8%. Only 4% work in Forest Hill itself; outside it, Alexandria draws the most (21%, 17 miles). Working residents average 22 minutes each way (Louisiana 26, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Forest Hill by day
On a workday 154 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 141 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.92 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Forest Hill commutes to
Where Forest Hill clocks in
21% of workers
4% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Forest Hill works in goods: 55% of its jobs
147 jobs are based in Forest Hill.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forest Hill, 2013 → 2023: 120 → 147. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Forest Hill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes to work from Forest Hill
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forest Hill workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 384 commuters (the 1% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Miles to work from Forest Hill
About 20% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Forest Hill: questions
What is the median household income in Forest Hill?
$115,938 (±$54,305) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forest Hill?
6.6%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forest Hill?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forest Hill work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alexandria (21%, 17 mi), Pineville (4%, 21 mi), Glenmora (2%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Forest Hill without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Forest Hill, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forest Hill
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.