Lake Forest is a medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 20,018 people and five constituent neighborhoods, Lake Forest is the 118th largest community in Illinois.

Lake Forest is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 96.38% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Lake Forest is a city of managers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Lake Forest who work in management occupations (26.12%), sales jobs (18.87%), and office and administrative support jobs (9.96%).

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

A relatively large number of people in Lake Forest telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 9.90% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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, Lake Forest 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, Lake Forest is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Lake Forest a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The city's good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Lake Forest has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Lake Forest's overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

One downside of living in Lake Forest is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Lake Forest, the average commute to work is 31.70 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the city, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.

For the size of the city, public transportation in Lake Forest is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the train. For Lake Forest, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.

Lake Forest Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Lake Forest is a pretty powerful place. 73.83% of the adults in Lake Forest 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 Lake Forest in 2000 was $77,092, which is wealthy relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $308,368 for a family of four. However, Lake Forest contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Lake Forest home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Lake Forest is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Lake Forest include German, Irish, English, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Greek, and Scottish.

The most common language spoken in Lake Forest is English. Some people also speak Spanish.