Forest Lake is a medium-sized city located in the state of Minnesota. With a population of 20,857 people and five associated neighborhoods, Forest Lake is the 59th largest community in Minnesota. Forest Lake real estate is some of the most expensive in Minnesota, although Forest Lake house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Forest Lake is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Forest Lake is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Forest Lake who work in management occupations (12.37%), office and administrative support (11.73%), and sales jobs (8.17%). Also of interest is that Forest Lake 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: 13.10% 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. The citizens of Forest Lake are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 36.89% of adults in Forest Lake have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Forest Lake in 2022 was $44,179, which is wealthy relative to Minnesota, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $176,716 for a family of four. However, Forest Lake contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Forest Lake is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Forest Lake home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Forest Lake residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Forest Lake include German, Swedish, Irish, Norwegian, and English. The most common language spoken in Forest Lake is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Miao/Hmong.
