Forest Park is a somewhat small village located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 13,802 people and three associated neighborhoods, Forest Park is the 171st largest community in Illinois. Forest Park has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic villages in the country.Forest Park is a decidedly white-collar village, with fully 91.46% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Forest Park is a village of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Forest Park who work in management occupations (11.14%), sales jobs (10.23%), and healthcare (9.31%). Also of interest is that Forest Park has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 17.64% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. One downside of living in Forest Park, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 31.64 minutes every day commuting to work. It is, however, a pedestrian-friendly village. Many of its neighborhoods are dense enough and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. In addition, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead. Even though Forest Park is a smaller village, it has many people who hop on public transportation – mostly the subway for their daily commute to work. Typically, these people are commuting to good jobs in the surrounding cities.If knowledge is power, Forest Park is a pretty powerful place. 52.44% of the adults in Forest Park have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Forest Park in 2022 was $54,017, which is wealthy relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $216,068 for a family of four. However, Forest Park contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Forest Park is an extremely ethnically-diverse village. The people who call Forest Park home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Forest Park residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Forest Park include German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and English. The most common language spoken in Forest Park is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
