Oak Park is a larger medium-sized village located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 52,524 people and 12 constituent neighborhoods, Oak Park is the 26th largest community in Illinois. Oak Park has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic villages in the country.

Oak Park is a decidedly white-collar village, with fully 92.09% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Oak Park is a village of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Oak Park who work in office and administrative support jobs (14.34%), management occupations (12.56%), and teaching (9.77%).

Of important note, Oak Park is also a village of artists. Oak Park has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Oak Park's character.

Also of interest is that Oak Park has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Another interesting thing about Oak Park, despite not being a huge village, is that there is a relatively high proportion of people living here who are young, single, and upwardly-mobile professionals. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

In addition to being popular with young singles, Oak Park is also home to many people who can be described as "urban sophisticates." While both of these categories describe educated professionals, urban sophisticates are quite a different demographic. Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness.' But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

In Oak Park, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 30.31 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.

Oak Park has public transportation that is used by many people for their daily commute to and from work: primarily, this consists of people taking the subway.

Oak Park Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Oak Park is a pretty powerful place. 62.12% of the adults in Oak Park have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 14.96% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Oak Park in 2000 was $36,340, which is wealthy relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $145,360 for a family of four.

Oak Park is a very ethnically-diverse village. The people who call Oak Park home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Oak Park is White, followed by African-American. Important ancestries of people in Oak Park include Irish, German, Italian, English, and Polish.

The most common language spoken in Oak Park is English. Some people also speak Spanish.