One downside of living in Park Forest is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Park Forest, the average commute to work is 32.56 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the village, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.
Although the majority of commuting trips in the village are by private automobile, Park Forest is somewhat unusual for a village 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 Forest area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.
In terms of college education, Park Forest is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 26.04% of adults 25 and older in the village have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Park Forest in 2018 was $26,590, which is low income relative to Illinois, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $106,360 for a family of four. However, Park Forest contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Park Forest is a very ethnically-diverse village. The people who call Park Forest home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Park Forest residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Park Forest include German, African, Irish, English, and Polish.
The most common language spoken in Park Forest is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.
