Palos Heights vs River Forest

A side-by-side comparison of Palos Heights and River Forest: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Palos Heights has the higher population (11,817 vs 11,489 in River Forest). River Forest has the higher median household income ($148,711 vs $107,974 in Palos Heights). River Forest has the higher median home value ($676,900 vs $350,000 in Palos Heights).

Population, income & housing

	Palos Heights	River Forest
Population	11,817	11,489
Median age	51.2 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$107,974	$148,711
Median home value	$350,000	$676,900
Median gross rent	$2,138	$1,411
Housing units	4,762	4,494
Homeownership rate	95.2%	89.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.0%	73.4%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	6.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palos Heights	River Forest
Population	12,480 → 11,817 (-5.3%)	10,970 → 11,489 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$89,286 → $107,974 (+20.9%)	$129,928 → $148,711 (+14.5%)
Median home value	$282,100 → $350,000 (+24.1%)	$596,900 → $676,900 (+13.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,322 → $2,138 (+61.7%)	$1,143 → $1,411 (+23.4%)

Palos Heights

Population

12,48011,817

Median household income

$89,286$107,974

Median home value

$282,100$350,000

Median gross rent

$1,322$2,138

River Forest

Population

10,97011,489

Median household income

$129,928$148,711

Median home value

$596,900$676,900

Median gross rent

$1,143$1,411

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Palos Heights	River Forest
Under 5	5.0%	5.8%
5 to 17	13.7%	18.4%
18 to 24	6.1%	10.7%
25 to 34	10.5%	9.1%
35 to 44	9.6%	11.9%
45 to 54	8.3%	13.7%
55 to 64	16.4%	10.6%
65 to 74	16.8%	11.8%
75 and over	13.5%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palos Heights	River Forest
White (non-Hispanic)	86.2%	78.3%
Black or African American	2.6%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	6.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.9%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	9.0%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palos Heights	River Forest
No high school diploma	2.3%	3.3%
High school graduate	24.4%	7.0%
Some college or associate's	30.3%	16.4%
Bachelor's degree	25.1%	29.9%
Graduate or professional degree	17.9%	43.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palos Heights	River Forest
Drove alone	75.1%	46.5%
Carpooled	6.7%	3.6%
Public transit	3.5%	17.8%
Walked	1.9%	6.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.7%
Worked from home	12.6%	23.8%
Other means	0.2%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palos Heights	River Forest
1-unit, detached	60.8%	60.8%
1-unit, attached	22.6%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	15.9%
20 or more units	1.2%	12.5%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Palos Heights	River Forest
Poverty rate	5.8%	2.2%
Average household size	2.51	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	29	31
Median year structure built	1976	1945