Commonwealth / Forest Hills median real estate price is $874,650, which is more expensive than 94.0% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 83.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
Average rental prices in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood are currently unreported, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Commonwealth / Forest Hills is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Western Springs, Illinois.
Commonwealth / Forest Hills real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to large (four, five or more bedroom) single-family homes and townhomes. Most of the residential real estate is owner occupied. Many of the residences in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built before 1940.
In Commonwealth / Forest Hills, the current vacancy rate is 0.0%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 100.0% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in Commonwealth / Forest Hills is very tight compared to the demand for property here.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Real Estate
Owner-occupied real estate dominates the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout research, the percentage of residential real estate occupied by its owner is higher here than in 99.8% of neighborhoods in America. This neighborhood has the distinction of having one of the lowest real estate vacancy rates of any neighborhood in America. With just 0.0% of the real estate vacant, this indicates an exceptionally strong demand for real estate in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood, and/or an issue with creating enough supply for the demand. This could have the effect of increasing real estate prices, increasing supply to meet demand, or both.
In addition, one way that the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood really stands out, is that it has more large 4, 5, or additional bedroom homes and real estate than 96.0% of the neighborhoods in America. When you walk or drive around this neighborhood, you'll instantly notice the size of the homes here which definitely makes a strong visual statement.
People
Wealth makes most things in life easier, and a few things harder. If you are wealthy and enjoy keeping up with the Jones', this neighborhood will interest you. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood is wealthier than 98.9% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Residents here are truly in a unique situation even when compared to other Americans, based on the sheer amount of wealth concentrated here. Even in times of economic downturn, residents of this neighborhood, as a group, suffered less and recovered more quickly. This is indeed a stand-out characteristic of this neighborhood. As one would expect in a considerably wealthy neighborhood such as this, Commonwealth / Forest Hills also has one of the lowest ratings of child poverty in the nation.
In addition, think about the people you know personally. How many of them would purchase box seats to opening night at the symphony? How many of them regularly attend gallery openings, or are the first to reserve tickets to opening night at the ballet? If they're like most of us, they don't do any of these things. But if you're among an exclusive crowd of wealthy and refined patrons of the arts, then you'll feel right at home in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood: a neighborhood in which more "urban sophisticates" live than 99.9% of neighborhoods across the U.S. Here, your neighbors are defined as having urbane tastes in literature, music, live theatre and the arts. They are wealthy, educated, travel in style, and live a big city lifestyle whether or not they live in or near a big city. In addition to being an excellent choice for urban sophisticates, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for families with school-aged children and highly educated executives.
Also, astoundingly, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this single neighborhood has a higher concentration of married couples living here than 99.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Whether they have school-aged children or not, married couples are the rule in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood. If you are a married couple, you may find many people here with a similar lifestyle, and perhaps common interests. But if you are single, you might not find many other singles here.
Finally, the rate of college educated adults in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 78.6% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 34.3% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.4% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Modes of Transportation
In the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood, 12.6% of people ride the train to work each day. This is a very high percentage compared to most places. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this is a higher level of train ridership than in 95.9% of the neighborhoods in America.
Occupations
Executives, managers and professionals make up 70.3% of the workforce in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood which, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is a higher proportion of such high-level people than is found in 95.6% of the neighborhoods in America. For this reason, this neighborhood really stands out as unique.
Diversity
Did you know that the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood has more Irish and Polish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 31.0% of this neighborhood's residents have Irish ancestry and 18.7% have Polish ancestry.
Commonwealth / Forest Hills is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 16.4% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Italian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.3% of the neighborhoods in America.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood in Western Springs are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 98.9% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood, 70.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 19.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (7.3%), and 5.4% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
Languages
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood is English, spoken by 93.6% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian, Polish and Spanish.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood in Western Springs, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (31.0%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (23.9%), and residents who report Polish roots (18.7%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (16.9%), along with some English ancestry residents (7.7%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (30.3% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (65.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (12.6%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
