Forrest vs Pontiac

A side-by-side comparison of Forrest and Pontiac: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Pontiac has the higher population (11,483 vs 1,008 in Forrest). Forrest has the higher median household income ($70,417 vs $59,579 in Pontiac). Pontiac has the higher median home value ($110,200 vs $104,000 in Forrest).

Population, income & housing

	Forrest	Pontiac
Population	1,008	11,483
Median age	32.6 yrs	43.4 yrs
Median household income	$70,417	$59,579
Median home value	$104,000	$110,200
Median gross rent	$663	$818
Housing units	472	5,106
Homeownership rate	79.8%	65.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.5%	16.1%
Unemployment rate	0.6%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forrest	Pontiac
Population	1,058 → 1,008 (-4.7%)	11,688 → 11,483 (-1.8%)
Median household income	$58,839 → $70,417 (+19.7%)	$45,285 → $59,579 (+31.6%)
Median home value	$94,100 → $104,000 (+10.5%)	$97,000 → $110,200 (+13.6%)
Median gross rent	$625 → $663 (+6.1%)	$715 → $818 (+14.4%)

Forrest

Population

1,0581,008

Median household income

$58,839$70,417

Median home value

$94,100$104,000

Median gross rent

$625$663

Pontiac

Population

11,68811,483

Median household income

$45,285$59,579

Median home value

$97,000$110,200

Median gross rent

$715$818

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forrest	Pontiac
Under 5	6.3%	4.6%
5 to 17	18.4%	12.8%
18 to 24	10.9%	7.0%
25 to 34	17.8%	12.3%
35 to 44	5.7%	15.2%
45 to 54	13.3%	11.4%
55 to 64	10.0%	15.9%
65 to 74	10.1%	12.0%
75 and over	7.6%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forrest	Pontiac
White (non-Hispanic)	92.9%	82.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	8.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.7%	5.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forrest	Pontiac
No high school diploma	9.8%	15.0%
High school graduate	33.8%	40.9%
Some college or associate's	37.8%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	12.2%	9.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.3%	6.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forrest	Pontiac
Drove alone	87.0%	77.9%
Carpooled	6.2%	9.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	3.5%
Bicycle	1.6%	2.3%
Worked from home	4.7%	6.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forrest	Pontiac
1-unit, detached	84.5%	64.8%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	11.2%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	7.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	6.5%

Poverty & households

	Forrest	Pontiac
Poverty rate	14.7%	9.9%
Average household size	2.24	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	30	17
Median year structure built	1956	1965