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Oak Forest, Illinois

25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Bremen Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60452. The Survey maps it on the Harvey quadrangle. 27,478 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 656 feet above sea level.

Oak Forest within Cook County

Population over time

2 figures

Oak Forest fell from 27,962 to 27,478 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201027,962
202027,478-484 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 25 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

2 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Oak Forest in 2005, burning under an acre in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Recreation and ceremony1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 July 2005Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreIllinois State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
18 May 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cook County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Oak Forest: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Markham City Dept. of Public WorksStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Cook County

Storms near this place

24 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oak Forest in 24 storm reports between 2004 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 4 flood, 3 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2007Thunderstorm WindOak Forest$30,000A tree was blown down onto a pickup truck, a boat and a garage.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Forest-Tree limbs and power lines were blown down along 159th Street.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Forest-Multiple reports of trees snapped or uprooted were received.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Forest-A private weather station measured a wind gust to 68 mph.
August 2025Flash FloodOak Forest-Numerous reports of flooding were received from the vicinity of Tinley Park, Oak Forest, and Homewood. A viaduct along Dixie Hwy in Homewood was flooded and closed to traffic. Water had risen up to car bumpers near Harlem and 167th St in Tinley Park. A private weather station in Homewood recorded 3.1 inches of rain between approximately 12:30 PM and 4:30 PM CST. A trained spotter in Country Club Hills recorded 2.38 inches in a 90 minute period.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindOak Forest-A large tree was reported down along 167th St east of Central Ave in Oak Forest.
February 2024HailOak Forest-A trained spotter reported ping pong ball sized hail near 155th St and Long Ave in Oak Forest. They noted the hail fell from 8:40 to 8:52 PM CST.
March 2024FloodOak Forest-Multiple public reports of minor street flooding in the Oak Forest, Midlothian and Blue Island areas were received via social media. Natalie Creek quickly rose to near flood stage in Midlothian.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindOak Forest-A photo showed a large tree that was blown down onto a fence.
July 2024Tornado (EF0)Oak Forest-A brief tornado with estimated peak winds of 85 mph touched down just north of 159th Street near Rob Roy Drive. In addition to tree damage, minor roof and fascia damage occurred to some homes, primarily confined to areas along Brookwood and Arroyo Drives. One home just west of Arroyo Drive suffered damage to siding, gutters, a vinyl fence and a broken window. The tornado ended near Terrace Drive and 158th Place.
September 2024Heavy RainOak Forest-A private weather station measured almost 2 inches of rain in 30 minutes with a storm total of 2.37 inches.
March 2023FloodOak Forest-One foot of standing water was reported near the intersection of 159th St and Cicero Ave.
August 2022Flash FloodOak Forest-Flooding caused 167th Street to be closed. Side roads were likely flooded as well. Rainfall of 3.06 inches was measured in Oak Forest.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindOak Forest-A 6 inch diameter tree was snapped.
August 2008Thunderstorm WindOak Forest-Ten to fifteen inch diameter trees were blown down.
October 2007HailOak Forest-Nickel size hail was reported at 167th and Cicero.
May 2007FloodOak Forest-Six inches of standing water reported at 159th Street and Cicero.
July 2007FloodOak Forest-Four to five inches of standing water at 167th and Cicero.
July 2007Flash FloodOak Forest-A viaduct was flooded west of Cicero Avenue on 159th Street.
April 2004HailOak Forest-Cicero and Rt. 6 in Oak Forest.
February 2024HailOak Forest-no account filed
May 2024HailOak Forest-no account filed
June 2006HailOak Forest-no account filed
April 2004HailOak Forest-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cook County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Midlothian2.1 miles25
Goeselville2.6 miles24
Markham2.7 miles25
Country Club Hills2.7 miles25
Tinley Park3.0 miles24
University Park3.2 miles25
Hazel Crest3.4 miles25
Robbins3.6 miles25

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Oak ForestAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q578535The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 414759. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.