Park Ridge is a medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 38,278 people and nine associated neighborhoods, Park Ridge is the 43rd largest community in Illinois. Park Ridge home prices are not only among the most expensive in Illinois, but Park Ridge real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Park Ridge is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 89.46% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Park Ridge is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Park Ridge who work in management occupations (17.17%), sales jobs (11.92%), and business and financial occupations (11.60%). Also of interest is that Park Ridge 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: 19.57% 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. In addition, Park Ridge is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums. Because of many things, Park Ridge is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Park Ridge really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Park Ridge perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live. Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Park Ridge is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the train helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Park Ridge area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Park Ridge. 63.92% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%. The per capita income in Park Ridge in 2022 was $69,765, which is wealthy relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $279,060 for a family of four. Park Ridge is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Park Ridge home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Park Ridge residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Park Ridge include German, Polish, Irish, Italian, and English. The most common language spoken in Park Ridge is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
