Despite the fact that it is a small city, Forest has quite a few people who take public transportation – mostly the bus - for their daily commute to work. This helps to fill a real need in the city for affordable transportation.
The rate of college-level education in Forest is quite a bit lower than the national average among all cities of 21.84%: just 12.85% of people here over 25 have a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree.
The per capita income in Forest in 2018 was $21,007, which is lower middle income relative to Mississippi, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $84,028 for a family of four. However, Forest contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Forest is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Forest home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Forest residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Forest also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 29.97% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Forest include English, Irish, German, Scottish, and Pennsylvania German.
Foreign born people are also an important part of Forest's cultural character, accounting for 19.57% of the city’s population.
The most common language spoken in Forest is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.
