Oak Forest is a medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 26,460 people and five associated neighborhoods, Oak Forest is the 77th largest community in Illinois.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 10.06% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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 Oak Forest, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 32.62 minutes every day commuting to work. However, 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.
Like elsewhere in America, most people in Oak Forest use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Oak Forest‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the train. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.
The overall education level of Oak Forest citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 31.25% of adults in Oak Forest have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%.
The per capita income in Oak Forest in 2022 was $41,453, which is upper middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $165,812 for a family of four. However, Oak Forest contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Oak Forest is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Oak Forest home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Oak Forest residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Oak Forest also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 14.71% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Oak Forest include Irish, German, Polish, Italian, and English.
The most common language spoken in Oak Forest is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.