Forest Hills vs Grand Rapids

A side-by-side comparison of Forest Hills and Grand Rapids: population, income, housing, and more.

Forest Hills and Grand Rapids are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Grand Rapids has the higher population (197,768 vs 28,494 in Forest Hills). Forest Hills has the higher median household income ($156,618 vs $65,526 in Grand Rapids). Forest Hills has the higher median home value ($474,800 vs $225,500 in Grand Rapids).

Population, income & housing

	Forest Hills	Grand Rapids
Population	28,494	197,768
Median age	43.3 yrs	32.1 yrs
Median household income	$156,618	$65,526
Median home value	$474,800	$225,500
Median gross rent	$1,950	$1,191
Housing units	10,339	85,145
Homeownership rate	94.4%	54.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	71.5%	40.1%
Unemployment rate	1.5%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forest Hills	Grand Rapids
Population	27,830 → 28,494 (+2.4%)	198,401 → 197,768 (-0.3%)
Median household income	$119,404 → $156,618 (+31.2%)	$50,103 → $65,526 (+30.8%)
Median home value	$347,500 → $474,800 (+36.6%)	$143,400 → $225,500 (+57.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,368 → $1,950 (+42.5%)	$925 → $1,191 (+28.8%)

Forest Hills

Population

27,83028,494

Median household income

$119,404$156,618

Median home value

$347,500$474,800

Median gross rent

$1,368$1,950

Grand Rapids

Population

198,401197,768

Median household income

$50,103$65,526

Median home value

$143,400$225,500

Median gross rent

$925$1,191

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forest Hills	Grand Rapids
Under 5	6.2%	6.6%
5 to 17	21.8%	14.8%
18 to 24	3.6%	13.2%
25 to 34	6.9%	20.5%
35 to 44	14.4%	12.5%
45 to 54	15.5%	9.7%
55 to 64	14.9%	9.8%
65 to 74	9.2%	7.8%
75 and over	7.5%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forest Hills	Grand Rapids
White (non-Hispanic)	87.8%	57.5%
Black or African American	0.6%	17.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	3.8%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.1%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	16.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forest Hills	Grand Rapids
No high school diploma	2.3%	11.0%
High school graduate	7.2%	21.7%
Some college or associate's	19.0%	27.2%
Bachelor's degree	40.8%	26.3%
Graduate or professional degree	30.7%	13.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forest Hills	Grand Rapids
Drove alone	69.5%	69.3%
Carpooled	5.4%	8.9%
Public transit	1.0%	3.1%
Walked	1.3%	4.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.9%
Worked from home	22.2%	12.3%
Other means	0.4%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forest Hills	Grand Rapids
1-unit, detached	88.8%	56.6%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	5.2%
2 to 4 units	1.0%	15.6%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	8.1%
20 or more units	0.3%	14.2%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Forest Hills	Grand Rapids
Poverty rate	2.6%	18.6%
Average household size	2.82	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	21	19
Median year structure built	1988	1953