Most of the Oak Forest is part of Illinois' First Congressional District and is represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Democrat Bobby Rush. The oak forest is a suburb of Chicago, home to about 2,000 people, according to the 2010 census.

The closest access point is Oak Forest State Park, which is about a half-hour drive from Chicago and about an hour from the city of Chicago. The route leads to the oak Forest as part of the US Forest Service's National Forest Trail System.

The Tri-State Tollway (I-294) is also accessible from Chicago via the Illinois State Parkway and the Chicago - Illinois Riverfront Trail.

The Pace bus line 383 runs along Cicero Avenue and the location is very close to the Rock Island Railroad. A new railway station was built in Eichenwald to reach the facility comfortably by train. The station is the terminus of the Rock Island District Metra line, which runs between Chicago and Lake County, Illinois, on the Chicago - Illinois Riverfront Trail.

In the following years, after the opening of the Eichenwald Hospital, a small settlement developed in the Eichenwald forest, populated by a number of doctors, nurses, doctors "offices and other medical professionals. In 1947 the inhabitants of the village of Eichenwald voted in favour of incorporation into the village, and the population grew. A new railway station and a new public school were built and used, as well as other goods that had been used in the complex for many years. On 1 July 1948, they voted for the first time in a residents "meeting in the town hall for the incorporation as an oak forest village.

The proposed name did not gain much momentum, but the name was recalled and became the official name of the village of Oak Forest, Illinois, and the town of Oak Forest. Consolidated, "which included the names of several other villages in the area as well as the city of Chicago and Chicago County.

Oak Forest is home to the University of Chicago Medical Center and Oak Forest Hospital, and higher education is readily available. Just west and north of the hospital is an old residential area, and immediately south and west of it is the Old Towne Park neighborhood with its high school and high-rise buildings. Nearby communities in the Oak Forest include Palos Heights in the Northwest, which is near Bachelor Grove Cemetery and Forest Preserve, and Oak Hills, a small town in southern and central Illinois.

Over the years, the annexation has led to developments around the intersection of the Oak Forest and Interstate 57 to the south and southeast of the hospital.

In spring 2005, with the support of the ZPDA, it was announced that the Gateway Project would include the construction of a 1.5 million square foot development at the intersection of Oak Forest Boulevard and Interstate 57. The mayor described the development as a significant improvement of the city's tax base and as creating new jobs and economic development opportunities for the region's residents and businesses. In 2008, the city brokered a two-story, mixed-use development on the site of an old gas station worth $2.2 million.

The project offers the community a transitional development with high-quality housing, retail and office space. Central Avenue serves as the intersection of Oak Forest Boulevard, Acorn Drive, Oak Park Avenue and Oak Grove Avenue, all within a short walk of the Gateway Project site and a few blocks from Interstate 57.

In the 2nd District, a very small area on the southeast edge of the city borders Oak Forest Boulevard, Oak Park Avenue, Acorn Drive and Oak Grove Avenue. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), there are 10,022 housing units in the area.

The median income for households in the city is $60,073, and the median income for families is $68,862. 36.9% have children under 18 years of age, 61.0% are married couples living together, 9.7% have a housekeeper with a husband and 25.8% live in a detached house, of which 61.0% are a couple with children and a child under 18 living with him, 5.5% with their mother, 2.2% in detached houses, 1.6% of households with two or more children, 3.1% without a mother and 9% for non-families. In the 2nd District, more than half of the residents of Oak Forest Boulevard, Oak Park Avenue, Acorn Drive, and Oak Grove Avenue live below the poverty line, including the majority of those with incomes below $25,000 a year and less than $20,500 a month.

The population rose from 3,724 in 1960 to 17,870 in 1970, then settled down until reaching 26,096 in 1980. The racial makeup of the city is a mix of whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Latinos and African Americans. 9.2% of the population is 65 years or older, and the majority of them are older than 65, across all ethnic and ethnic groups.