Dolton vs Park Forest

A side-by-side comparison of Dolton and Park Forest: population, income, housing, and more.

Dolton and Park Forest are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Dolton has the higher population (20,979 vs 20,898 in Park Forest). Park Forest has the higher median household income ($62,305 vs $58,706 in Dolton). Dolton has the higher median home value ($140,500 vs $106,200 in Park Forest).

Population, income & housing

	Dolton	Park Forest
Population	20,979	20,898
Median age	40.0 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$58,706	$62,305
Median home value	$140,500	$106,200
Median gross rent	$1,399	$1,341
Housing units	9,035	9,015
Homeownership rate	72.0%	64.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.7%	25.8%
Unemployment rate	10.9%	7.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dolton	Park Forest
Population	22,737 → 20,979 (-7.7%)	21,563 → 20,898 (-3.1%)
Median household income	$46,614 → $58,706 (+25.9%)	$53,938 → $62,305 (+15.5%)
Median home value	$102,600 → $140,500 (+36.9%)	$73,600 → $106,200 (+44.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,287 → $1,399 (+8.7%)	$1,211 → $1,341 (+10.7%)

Dolton

Population

22,73720,979

Median household income

$46,614$58,706

Median home value

$102,600$140,500

Median gross rent

$1,287$1,399

Park Forest

Population

21,56320,898

Median household income

$53,938$62,305

Median home value

$73,600$106,200

Median gross rent

$1,211$1,341

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dolton	Park Forest
Under 5	6.3%	5.4%
5 to 17	18.1%	19.9%
18 to 24	9.3%	8.2%
25 to 34	11.4%	14.4%
35 to 44	10.8%	14.3%
45 to 54	12.5%	11.8%
55 to 64	13.8%	10.3%
65 to 74	11.4%	11.2%
75 and over	6.4%	4.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dolton	Park Forest
White (non-Hispanic)	4.4%	18.5%
Black or African American	90.9%	69.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.8%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	8.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dolton	Park Forest
No high school diploma	6.7%	8.8%
High school graduate	31.0%	25.4%
Some college or associate's	39.6%	40.0%
Bachelor's degree	15.1%	15.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	10.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dolton	Park Forest
Drove alone	68.9%	76.7%
Carpooled	8.2%	5.3%
Public transit	7.8%	7.1%
Walked	2.1%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	11.1%	6.5%
Other means	2.0%	3.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dolton	Park Forest
1-unit, detached	79.7%	61.9%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	25.8%
2 to 4 units	9.8%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	2.8%
20 or more units	3.8%	6.9%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Dolton	Park Forest
Poverty rate	20.4%	17.2%
Average household size	2.61	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	32	34
Median year structure built	1965	1958