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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Commonwealth / Forest Hills median real estate price is $797,845, which is more expensive than 94.9% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 85.0% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Commonwealth / Forest Hills is currently $2,833, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 86.4% of the neighborhoods in Illinois.

Commonwealth / Forest Hills is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Western Springs, Illinois.

Commonwealth / Forest Hills real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to large (four, five or more bedroom) single-family homes and townhomes. Most of the residential real estate is owner occupied. Many of the residences in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.

Real estate vacancies in Commonwealth / Forest Hills are 3.8%, which is lower than one will find in 75.9% of American neighborhoods. Demand for real estate in Commonwealth / Forest Hills is above average for the U.S., and may signal some demand for either price increases or new construction of residential product for this neighborhood.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.

People

Wealth makes most things in life easier, and a few things harder. If you are wealthy and enjoy keeping up with the Jones', this neighborhood will interest you. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood is wealthier than 99.1% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Residents here are truly in a unique situation even when compared to other Americans, based on the sheer amount of wealth concentrated here. Even in times of economic downturn, residents of this neighborhood, as a group, suffered less and recovered more quickly. This is indeed a stand-out characteristic of this neighborhood. As one would expect in a considerably wealthy neighborhood such as this, Commonwealth / Forest Hills also has one of the lowest ratings of child poverty in the nation.

In addition, if you're a regular supporter of the arts and enjoy outings to the theatre, weekend boutique-ing, or even a finely aged wine with dinner, than you're in good company with the people of the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood. This neighborhood is uniquely immersed with more "urban sophisticates" than 99.9% of neighborhoods across the country. The people here truly stand out as a class among their own. They are an exclusive community characterized by refined tastes, cultural inclinations, and the means to live well. Urban sophisticates live a big city lifestyle, whether or not they live in or near a big city. They are educated executives or managers by week, and serial patrons of the arts by weekend. If this lifestyle pertains to you, than you'll certainly feel right at home in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood. In addition to being an excellent choice for urban sophisticates, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for families with school-aged children and highly educated executives.

Also, astoundingly, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this single neighborhood has a higher concentration of married couples living here than 99.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Whether they have school-aged children or not, married couples are the rule in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood. If you are a married couple, you may find many people here with a similar lifestyle, and perhaps common interests. But if you are single, you might not find many other singles here.

Finally, the rate of college educated adults in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 79.7% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 33.7% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

Real Estate

Real estate in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood is almost exclusively owner-occupied. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher rate of owner-occupied housing than is found in 99.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. If you are seeking to rent, this neighborhood may not have many options, but high rates of ownership often indicate stability in a neighborhood.

In addition, one way that the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood really stands out, is that it has more large 4, 5, or additional bedroom homes and real estate than 97.0% of the neighborhoods in America. When you walk or drive around this neighborhood, you'll instantly notice the size of the homes here which definitely makes a strong visual statement.

Modes of Transportation

In the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood, 16.7% of people ride the train to work each day. This is a very high percentage compared to most places. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this is a higher level of train ridership than in 96.5% of the neighborhoods in America.

Occupations

The Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 95.2% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 68.7% of the employed people here make a living as an executive, a manager, or other professional. With such a high concentration, this truly shapes the character of this neighborhood, and to a large degree defines what this neighborhood is about.

Diversity

Did you know that the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood has more Irish and Welsh ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 32.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Irish ancestry and 3.7% have Welsh ancestry.

Commonwealth / Forest Hills is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 16.4% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Italian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.3% of the neighborhoods in America.

The Neighbors

How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.

The neighbors in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood in Western Springs are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 99.1% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.

A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.

In the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood, 68.7% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 23.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (5.7%), and 5.3% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.

Languages

The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood is English, spoken by 92.6% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian, Polish and Spanish.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.

In the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood in Western Springs, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (32.7%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (23.5%), and residents who report Italian roots (16.6%), and some of the residents are also of Polish ancestry (15.5%), along with some English ancestry residents (7.7%), among others.

Getting to Work

How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (31.3% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.

Here most residents (67.3%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (16.7%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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