Oak Forest vs Wilmette

A side-by-side comparison of Oak Forest and Wilmette: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wilmette has the higher population (27,550 vs 26,888 in Oak Forest). Wilmette has the higher median household income ($192,300 vs $87,941 in Oak Forest). Wilmette has the higher median home value ($802,200 vs $247,800 in Oak Forest).

Population, income & housing

	Oak Forest	Wilmette
Population	26,888	27,550
Median age	40.3 yrs	45.7 yrs
Median household income	$87,941	$192,300
Median home value	$247,800	$802,200
Median gross rent	$1,287	$1,968
Housing units	10,732	10,730
Homeownership rate	79.6%	88.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.1%	84.6%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Oak Forest	Wilmette
Population	27,617 → 26,888 (-2.6%)	27,247 → 27,550 (+1.1%)
Median household income	$76,945 → $87,941 (+14.3%)	$164,681 → $192,300 (+16.8%)
Median home value	$194,200 → $247,800 (+27.6%)	$707,800 → $802,200 (+13.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,080 → $1,287 (+19.2%)	$1,484 → $1,968 (+32.6%)

Oak Forest

Population

27,61726,888

Median household income

$76,945$87,941

Median home value

$194,200$247,800

Median gross rent

$1,080$1,287

Wilmette

Population

27,24727,550

Median household income

$164,681$192,300

Median home value

$707,800$802,200

Median gross rent

$1,484$1,968

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Oak Forest	Wilmette
Under 5	4.5%	5.7%
5 to 17	17.3%	24.3%
18 to 24	7.2%	3.6%
25 to 34	12.5%	4.2%
35 to 44	14.1%	11.0%
45 to 54	14.3%	17.3%
55 to 64	13.9%	13.0%
65 to 74	10.7%	10.8%
75 and over	5.5%	10.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Oak Forest	Wilmette
White (non-Hispanic)	64.8%	78.3%
Black or African American	7.7%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	5.9%	11.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.1%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	18.0%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Oak Forest	Wilmette
No high school diploma	7.7%	1.3%
High school graduate	28.7%	5.2%
Some college or associate's	33.5%	8.9%
Bachelor's degree	20.6%	34.6%
Graduate or professional degree	9.5%	50.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Oak Forest	Wilmette
Drove alone	77.2%	42.8%
Carpooled	5.0%	3.4%
Public transit	6.4%	16.4%
Walked	1.1%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.7%
Worked from home	9.6%	32.0%
Other means	0.5%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Oak Forest	Wilmette
1-unit, detached	68.3%	77.1%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	1.2%
5 to 19 units	20.7%	3.0%
20 or more units	3.2%	12.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Oak Forest	Wilmette
Poverty rate	5.4%	3.4%
Average household size	2.59	2.67
Mean commute (minutes)	31	35
Median year structure built	1975	1956