Work & commute · Lake Forest

Work & commute in Lake Forest, IL

Most working residents leave Lake Forest for work: only 12% work in town. The top destinations are Chicago (26%), Libertyville (4%) and North Chicago (2%). Half commute less than 15 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
12%
911 of 7,414 working residents
Typical commute
15 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
31 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
30%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 6,503 Lake Forest residents head out of town to work, 911 work right here, and 12,444 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lake Forest.

6,503live here, work elsewhere
911live and work here
12,444work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where Lake Forest goes to work

HighwoodBannockburnLake BluffLincolnshireMettawaDeerfieldNorth ChicagoEvanstonVernon HillsLibertyvilleBuffalo GroveGrayslakeMundeleinNorthbrookGurneeGlenviewHighland ParkLake ForestWaukeganChicagoLibertyvilleMoraineShieldsChicagoLibertyvilleNorth ChicagoEvanstonNorthbrookDeerfieldHighland ParkGlenviewLibertyvilleLake Forest
1
Chicago28.9 mi away
26%1,926
2
Lake Forest (in town)right here
12%911
3
Libertyville5.6 mi away
4%309
4
North Chicago5.6 mi away
2%162
5
Evanston15.5 mi away
2%160
6
Northbrook7.5 mi away
2%160
7
Deerfield4.8 mi away
2%139
8
Highland Park4.4 mi away
2%138
9
Glenview10.5 mi away
2%137
10
Libertyville6.5 mi away
2%126
Everywhere elseother towns and states
44%3,246

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Lake Forest commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

40%Under 10 mi
26%10–24 mi
29%25–50 mi
6%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

Lake Forest is a job hub

1.80jobs per working resident
A job hub

1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Lake Forest are

13,355 jobs are based in Lake Forest. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Forest’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lake Forest

13,355 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)8%
Trade, transport & utilities14%
Services (health, schools, offices…)78%
$1,250 a month or less12%
$1,251–$3,333 a month15%
Over $3,333 a month74%

Jobs Lake Forest residents hold

7,414 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)14%
Trade, transport & utilities17%
Services (health, schools, offices…)70%
$1,250 a month or less13%
$1,251–$3,333 a month14%
Over $3,333 a month73%
+13%

Jobs based in Lake Forest, 2013 → 2023: 11,802 → 13,355. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.

The porch light’s on

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01