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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-LAKE-FOREST-PARK-WA · Lake Forest Park, WA 13,356 pop · income 95th pct
Nearest income peer: New Hope, PA (+ $61 income $)
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Lake Forest Park
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lake Forest Park on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cheney · lowest
47,039
Cheney · lowest
47,039 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #1
Lake Forest P… · this city
158,868
Lake Forest P… · this city
158,868 median HH income
72.6% of the leader · rank #2
New Hope · near
158,929
New Hope · near
158,929 median HH income
72.6% of the leader · rank #3
Oakwood · near
158,968
Oakwood · near
158,968 median HH income
72.6% of the leader · rank #4
Shavano Park · near
158,969
Shavano Park · near
158,969 median HH income
72.6% of the leader · rank #5
Sugarland Run · near
158,977
Sugarland Run · near
158,977 median HH income
72.6% of the leader · rank #6
Western Sprin… · highest
218,839
Western Sprin… · highest
218,839 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Lake Forest Park on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 13,356.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Lake Forest Park - the verdict
Lake Forest Park ranks in the 95th percentile for household income and the 38th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
95th
percentile, household income
97th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
38th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Lake Forest Park, WA
13,356 people live in Lake Forest Park, Washington - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Lake Forest Park households earn a median of $158,868 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.6%. Lake Forest Park's housing stock carries a median value of $928,700, and the median resident age is 42.8 years. About 66.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 64.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 12 residential building permits were authorized in Lake Forest Park (Building Boom), up 50% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Lake Forest Park reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1748.4 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Washington carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Washington scores 107.0 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,472 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Washington run around $188, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.0 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Lake Forest Park's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lake Forest Park, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Lake Forest Park?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 54.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lake Forest Park?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Woodinville (13,440 residents, $158,723 income); Snoqualmie (13,750 residents, $197,531 income); Newcastle (12,945 residents, $162,646 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pell City, AL (13,353 residents); Atlantic Beach, FL (13,353 residents); Western Springs, IL (13,353 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Is Lake Forest Park growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -419 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 12 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
What does the education layer cover for Lake Forest Park?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 66.0% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Lake Forest Park?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.8×
Home value
$928,700
Household income
$158,868
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Lake Forest Park?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1748.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 23% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1748.4
Violent rate
62.4
Property rate
1685.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A+
$158,868
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
66.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate A
1.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime A-
62 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
107.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Lake Forest Park profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 99/100 (A+) · $158,868
Bachelor's+ share: 95/100 (A+) · 66.0%
Poverty rate: 89/100 (A) · 1.6%
Violent crime: 80/100 (A-) · 62 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Lake Forest Park sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Lake Forest Park's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Lake Forest Park highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Lake Forest Park, WA (this city): home $928,700, crime 1,748/100k
Pell City, AL : home $238,100, crime 2,498/100k
Atlantic Beach, FL : home $565,500, crime 1,652/100k
Western Springs, IL : home $691,300, crime 281/100k
Henderson, TX : home $166,900, crime 3,163/100k
Woodinville, WA : home $1,032,900, crime 3,072/100k
Snoqualmie, WA : home $919,300, crime 1,116/100k
Newcastle, WA : home $1,128,200, crime 2,319/100k
Cheney, WA : home $330,300, crime 2,042/100k
How does Lake Forest Park compare to other US cities?
Where Lake Forest Park sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income95% higher than other cities
Home value97% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety38% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Washington, Lake Forest Park ranks #64 of 156 Washington cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Lake Forest Park against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Washington only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Washington-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Lake Forest Park near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lake Forest Park ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lake Forest Park only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#31 of 565
95th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#26 of 565
95th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#450 of 598
24th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#21 of 599
96th percentile in Washington
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Washington only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
95th percentile nationally for median household income · 38th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Lake Forest Park's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Lake Forest Park's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Lake Forest Park's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$928,7003rd percentilemore affordable than 3% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Lake Forest Park's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,967 of 15,516
More affordable than 10% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,931 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.8×, Lake Forest Park sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,967 of 15,516 and #2,931 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$158,868Lake Forest Park, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lake Forest Park, WA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Lake Forest Park, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)66.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
13,356
Median Income
$158,868
Median Home Value
$928,700
Median Age
42.8
Poverty Rate
1.6%
Labor force participation
64.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
66.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1748.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
62.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1685.9
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lake Forest Park's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
13,610 residents
2021
13,371 residents
2022
13,188 residents
2023
13,097 residents
2024
13,152 residents
2025
13,191 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
12
housing units authorized
Single-Family
12
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
8
8
0
$3.0M
2020
8
8
0
$3.2M
2021
7
7
0
$3.0M
2022
13
13
0
$6.5M
2023
11
11
0
$5.5M
2024
12
12
0
$6.4M
Permit volume increased 50% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
54.1%
Carpool
6.6%
Public Transit
5.6%
Walk
2.4%
Work from Home
29.0%
Other
2.3%
Based on 6,934 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Washington statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $188
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Washington at $188 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Washington statewide averages, not a meter reading for Lake Forest Park. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Washington's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.0 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Lake Forest Park is $1,472/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Washington statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.0 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Washington statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Lake Forest Park sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lake Forest Park compares to similar-size Washington cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.