Forreston vs Lost Nation

A side-by-side comparison of Forreston and Lost Nation: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Forreston has the higher population (1,148 vs 727 in Lost Nation). Lost Nation has the higher median household income ($106,419 vs $68,042 in Forreston). Lost Nation has the higher median home value ($220,600 vs $116,500 in Forreston).

Population, income & housing

	Forreston	Lost Nation
Population	1,148	727
Median age	47.5 yrs	51.3 yrs
Median household income	$68,042	$106,419
Median home value	$116,500	$220,600
Median gross rent	$783	—
Housing units	569	354
Homeownership rate	80.9%	100.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.7%	32.9%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forreston	Lost Nation
Population	1,549 → 1,148 (-25.9%)	639 → 727 (+13.8%)
Median household income	$54,559 → $68,042 (+24.7%)	$112,796 → $106,419 (-5.7%)
Median home value	$96,000 → $116,500 (+21.4%)	$187,500 → $220,600 (+17.7%)
Median gross rent	$683 → $783 (+14.6%)	—

Forreston

Population

1,5491,148

Median household income

$54,559$68,042

Median home value

$96,000$116,500

Median gross rent

$683$783

Lost Nation

Population

639727

Median household income

$112,796$106,419

Median home value

$187,500$220,600

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forreston	Lost Nation
Under 5	2.5%	1.2%
5 to 17	19.3%	3.0%
18 to 24	4.3%	18.0%
25 to 34	11.7%	6.6%
35 to 44	9.5%	6.5%
45 to 54	10.3%	20.5%
55 to 64	18.5%	8.9%
65 to 74	12.9%	23.4%
75 and over	11.1%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forreston	Lost Nation
White (non-Hispanic)	88.9%	100.0%
Black or African American	2.7%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.5%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.9%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forreston	Lost Nation
No high school diploma	8.7%	3.0%
High school graduate	45.8%	21.6%
Some college or associate's	31.8%	42.5%
Bachelor's degree	9.7%	21.2%
Graduate or professional degree	4.0%	11.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forreston	Lost Nation
Drove alone	72.5%	95.2%
Carpooled	17.3%	4.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.1%	0.0%
Other means	1.2%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forreston	Lost Nation
1-unit, detached	87.2%	100.0%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	4.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Forreston	Lost Nation
Poverty rate	4.4%	4.0%
Average household size	2.20	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	26	27
Median year structure built	1959	1991