Oak Park is a larger medium-sized village located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 52,553 people and 14 associated neighborhoods, Oak Park is the 26th largest community in Illinois. Oak Park has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic villages in the country. Oak Park home prices are not only among the most expensive in Illinois, but Oak Park real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Oak Park is a decidedly white-collar village, with fully 93.14% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Oak Park is a village of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Oak Park who work in management occupations (16.28%), teaching (11.26%), and business and financial occupations (10.35%). Also of interest is that Oak Park has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Of important note, Oak Park is also a village of artists. Oak Park has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Oak Park’s character. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 22.63% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. One downside of living in Oak Park is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Oak Park, the average commute to work is 34.29 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the village, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative. In addition, it is also a pedestrian-friendly village. Many of Oak Park’s neighborhoods are dense enough and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. For the size of the village, public transportation in Oak Park is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the subway. For Oak Park, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Oak Park. 71.76% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%. The per capita income in Oak Park in 2022 was $66,755, which is wealthy relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $267,020 for a family of four. Oak Park is an extremely ethnically-diverse village. The people who call Oak Park home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Oak Park residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Oak Park include German, Irish, English, Polish, and Italian. The most common language spoken in Oak Park is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and German/Yiddish.
