Best PlacesOak Forest, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Forest, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oak Forest ranks 1,304th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Forest
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Oak Forest's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Forest ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 81% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of cities
- BikingBetter than 79% of cities
Where Oak Forest ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of cities
- Short commute31.9 minutes each way, better than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Forest
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Forest home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,971, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Oak Forest's effective rate of 2.42%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Oak Forest
Oak Forest's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oak Forest.
Who works in Oak Forest, and how
Work in Oak Forest centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Oak Forest
Oak Forest has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oak Forest and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oak Forest, month by month
Oak Forest sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Oak Forest
Chicago Midway International sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Oak Forest
Schools across Oak Forest average a D+, better than 10% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Arnold W Kruse Ed CenterC · 35% proficient
- Walter F Fierke Ed CenterC · 33% proficient
- Kerkstra Elem SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Jack Hille Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Arbor Park Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Victor J Andrew High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Oak Forest High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Tinley Park High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Forest school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Forest measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Oak Forest against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Oak Forest suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Oak Forest
Is Oak Forest a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Forest ranks 1,304th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Forest expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,666. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $101,971 median income, cost of living beats 65% of cities.
Is Oak Forest safe?
Oak Forest is safer than 24% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oak Forest?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 22. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 37% of cities.
Is Oak Forest good for families?
Schools beat 10% of cities, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Oak Forest with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Forest. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Forest represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Oak Forest detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Forest: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Forest: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Forest: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Forest: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Forest detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.