Commonwealth / Forest Hills median real estate price is $815,819, which is more expensive than 94.1% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 83.7% 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.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Western Springs, the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Real Estate
Real estate in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood is almost exclusively owner-occupied. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher rate of owner-occupied housing than is found in 99.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. If you are seeking to rent, this neighborhood may not have many options, but high rates of ownership often indicate stability in a neighborhood. With a real estate vacancy rate of only 0.0%, the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood has a lower vacancy rate than 100.0% of U.S. neighborhoods, a very elite group. Such a low vacancy rate may indicate very strong real estate demand in the neighborhood combined with some impediments to increasing supply, such as zoning or existing density of development, among other potential reasons.
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, if you're a regular supporter of the arts and enjoy outings to the theatre, weekend boutique-ing, or even a finely aged wine with dinner, than you're in good company with the people of the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood. This neighborhood is uniquely immersed with more "urban sophisticates" than 99.9% of neighborhoods across the country. The people here truly stand out as a class among their own. They are an exclusive community characterized by refined tastes, cultural inclinations, and the means to live well. Urban sophisticates live a big city lifestyle, whether or not they live in or near a big city. They are educated executives or managers by week, and serial patrons of the arts by weekend. If this lifestyle pertains to you, than you'll certainly feel right at home in the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood. 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
If you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 12.6% of the Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 95.9% of America's neighborhoods.
Occupations
The Commonwealth / Forest Hills neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 95.6% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 70.3% of the employed people here make a living as an executive, a manager, or other professional. With such a high concentration, this truly shapes the character of this neighborhood, and to a large degree defines what this neighborhood is about.
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.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
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 shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
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.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. 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.
