River Forest, Illinois.
Typical home $722,857 (+10.7% in a year), asking rent $2,200 . Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$2,036 (+116%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $69,622 +11%
- $653,235$722,857 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $187,301 +35%
- $535,555$722,857 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- River Forest$3,794
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in River Forest, IL rose 10.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in River Forest, Cook County, Illinois
River Forest is a village of 11,717 people in Cook County. Half its households earn more than $146,786 a year and half less, against $83,498 across Cook County; 3% of its people live below the poverty line. 88% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 12% are rented. Unemployment in Cook County was 5.9% in August 2026, and the county had 1.1% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then professional services.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. River Forest is a village in Cook County, on the western edge of the Chicago area. It is a place where nearly everyone owns the home they live in, and household incomes run well above the county's. Far fewer people live below the poverty line than is typical, and a large majority of adults hold a four-year degree. Typical home values are high.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by professional and business services, banks, insurance and property, and shops. Dominican University and Concordia University-Chicago are among the largest workplaces in the village, along with Jewel Food Stores. Commutes are on the long side, and a good number of residents work from home.
Things to do. The Art Institute of Chicago, a museum, and Millennium Park, a garden, are both a longer drive away. Closer in, a short drive brings you to the United Center, a stadium, and to Wrigley Field, another well-known ballpark. The Chicago River is also a short drive away.
Report a mistake
- 4,460households
- 73%of adults have a degree
- 3%below the poverty line
- 32 mintypical commute
- 27%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Cook County had 2,594,810 jobs in 2025, 1.1% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 33° and lows near 19°; warmest in July, with highs near 85° and lows near 68°. About 34 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Chicago Midway Airport weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in River Forest
- Dominican UniversityUniversity or college750
- Concordia University-ChicagoUniversity or college546
- Jewel Food StoresSupermarkets and other grocery stores254
- River Forest SD 90School district224FTE
- River Forest147
- Fresh Thyme49
- Sodexo at Concordia University CafeteriaFood service contractors35
- Village of River Forest Fire DepartmentAmbulance and fire service combined21
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 6 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 526 people in all. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesVery high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in River Forest’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Cook County and the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro.
River Forest home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- River Forest$722,857
- Illinois$295,943
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 River Forest listings — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- River Forest29.29%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- River Forest34
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- River Forest14
Zip codes with a River Forest address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls River Forest — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.