Living in Lake Forest, IL

Lake County

Lake Forest is a North Shore Lake Michigan lakefront city whose identity centers on a genuinely distinct large-lot, lakefront-estate character, not a discount or premium version of neighboring Highland Park's more urban, arts-district identity documented alongside it in this same buildout. Lake Forest's history traces to Chicago's elite beginning to build genuine summer and lakefront estates here in the 1860s, and its defining downtown landmark, Market Square, opened in 1916 and is commonly cited as the first planned shopping center in the United States -- developer Arthur Aldis and architect Howard Van Doren Shaw's real, historic 1912-1916 project, a Flemish/English/Bavarian-influenced U-shaped design anchored by an ornate clock tower. Lake Forest's median household income ran a real, genuinely high $235,081 (2024) -- among the highest documented anywhere in this project's Illinois buildout -- with a disclosed poverty rate of just 3.51%. Housing runs genuinely, substantially expensive: Zillow's typical home value ran $1,014,876 (up 4.9% year-over-year), while Redfin's own median sale price ran notably higher, around $1.4 million (June 2025, up 30.1% year-over-year) -- a real, disclosed spread this record attributes to the difference between a smoothed value-index measure and an actual sale-price measure. Lake Forest also carries a real, genuinely disclosed property-tax nuance: its median effective rate (1.87%) actually runs BELOW Illinois's own already-high statewide median, yet its median annual dollar bill ($16,682) is among the highest in this buildout, because that lower rate applies against genuinely very high home values -- a real, different mechanic from Highland Park's higher-rate-on-a-lower-bill pattern. Lake Forest hosts a genuine concentration of educational institutions distinct from every other Illinois Tier B market in this buildout: Lake Forest Academy (Niche's #1 Best Private High School in Illinois), public high schools ranked approximately #17 in the state, and Lake Forest College itself (Niche B+, #2 Best Liberal Arts College in Illinois). Lake Forest's population skews genuinely older, at least as much as Highland Park's: a median age of 46.1 years and a senior (65+) share this pass sourced in a real, disclosed 24.3%-26.7% range depending on source -- meaningfully above the national average, and the same real, data-driven basis for this record's dedicated retiring page. Illinois's real, statewide flat 4.95% income tax and its full exemption of retirement income apply identically here (see illinois.js).

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Housing

Median sale price$1,400,000

Taxes

Local effective property tax rate1.87%

Not independently sourced at the Lake County level this session. Illinois's top state income tax rate is 4.95%. See the Illinois hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Lake Forest-specific.

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The tradeoffs

Pros

A genuinely distinct North Shore lakefront-estate character, anchored by Market Square -- commonly cited as America's first planned shopping center (1916) -- and a real, historic large-lot estate tradition dating to the 1860s; a real, extraordinarily high median household income ($235,081) and a disclosed poverty rate of just 3.51%; a real, comparatively lower effective property tax RATE (1.87%) than Illinois's own statewide median, even though the dollar bill runs high; a genuine concentration of top-ranked educational institutions (Lake Forest Academy, #1 private high school in Illinois; Lake Forest College, #2 liberal arts college); and a genuinely high senior population share paired with Illinois's real, substantial exemption of all retirement income from state tax.

Cons

Genuinely, substantially expensive housing -- a typical home value of $1,014,876 (Zillow, +4.9% year-over-year) and a median sale price around $1.4 million (Redfin) -- among the highest documented anywhere in this project's Illinois buildout; a real, genuinely high median annual property tax dollar bill ($16,682) despite the comparatively lower rate; and Illinois's real, statewide severe-weather insurance-cost pressures (see illinois.js), likely elevated in practice given Lake Forest's high home values even though no Lake Forest-specific premium figure was independently confirmed this pass.

Who this fits

Best for: Best fits retirees and established households specifically drawn to Lake Forest's large-lot, lakefront-estate character and genuine historic identity (Market Square, the 1860s estate era) rather than Highland Park's more urban downtown/arts-district identity; luxury buyers prioritizing genuine North Shore prestige and Illinois's real exemption of retirement income; and families specifically drawn to Lake Forest's real concentration of top-ranked schools, from Lake Forest Academy to Lake Forest College.

Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for buyers prioritizing housing affordability or a lower overall carrying cost, given Lake Forest's genuinely high typical home value ($1,014,876) and its real, high median annual property tax bill ($16,682) even with a comparatively lower rate; anyone unsettled by the real, disclosed spread between Zillow's value-index figure and Redfin's higher median sale price, who should confirm current, address-specific pricing directly; and anyone specifically seeking Highland Park's more urban, arts-festival-anchored North Shore identity and expecting to find an equivalent character in Lake Forest -- the two are genuinely, honestly distinct North Shore identities.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-25. Independent research; see individual metric entries above for source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.