Forest Hill, Texas

Area Profile

14,062 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Forest Hill, in Tarrant County.

60out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 48% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2288th of 3,904 cities measured52
GrowthTop 49% of 2,973 cities measured51
Housing affordability2746th of 4,223 cities measured71
Climate2495th of 4,223 cities measured68
Physical resilience2178th of 4,182 cities measured56
AccessTop 50% of 4,226 cities measured92
Economic stability2942nd of 4,226 cities measured49
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.7% and median household income $68,457, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Rent takes 31% of median household income here, at or above the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.7 times that income.

A typical July reaches 96°F and a typical January falls to 37°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
14,062
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$68,457
Top 48% nationally
Density
3,371/sq mi
4.2 sq mi of land
Median age
37.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Tarrant County
Texas
Metro area
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Nearest major airport
DFW
21 mi · Dallas-Fort Worth Intl
Median home value
$187,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 36% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.3% over the past year, to 1,158,097 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6,954$68,457Top 48%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,835$25,326Bottom 21%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.8%Top 36%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute32.2 minTop 25%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher14.2%Bottom 32%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment1,158,097Top 4%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.6%Top 11%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.3%Top 37%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force1,215,303Top 4%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation59.5%Bottom 46%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$70,630Top 45%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$51,440Top 48%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.7%Top 19%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 36%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202468k50k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $68,457 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers128,380$28,070
General and Operations Managers125,090$111,010
Stockers and Order Fillers111,100$37,590
Retail Salespersons100,340$33,400
Customer Service Representatives96,930$44,990
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand81,940$38,510

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Tarrant County, TX, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,763 takes 31% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.7 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
30.9%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,763
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$187,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.74Bottom 44%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.4%Bottom 43%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3644,713Top 12%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$399$1,763Top 13%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$24,841$187,400Top 50%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income30.9%Top 6%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.5%Bottom 27%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
51/ 100
Top 49% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 3% since 2020, reaching 14,314 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
8
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.6
Bottom 22% nationally
Year over year
+167%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202414k14k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020222023202420251325.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−90%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 96°F and January a low of 37°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 36.2 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 54, in the Moderate band, and about 30 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ARLINGTON MUNI AP, 10.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index97.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation36.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low37°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high96°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100302024 calendar year
Median air quality index54.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing38°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
54
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
97
90th percentile index
Days above 100
30
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

56 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, hail and lightning.

HailHigh
TornadoModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, inland flooding, cold wave, ice storm, winter weather, wildfire, earthquake, strong wind, hurricane, landslide, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Tarrant County records 5.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 19.7 per 100,000 residents in Tarrant County.

Homicide
5.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
19.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Tarrant County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Forest Hill rather than Forest Hill itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 21 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Dallas-Fort Worth IntlDFW21 mi13,401 ft
Perot Fld/Fort Worth AllianceAFW23 mi11,125 ft
Dallas Love FldDAL27 mi8,800 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
60
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Other cities in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
DallasDallas County1,307,93059vs Forest Hill
Fort WorthTarrant County963,19464vs Forest Hill
ArlingtonTarrant County397,74261vs Forest Hill
PlanoCollin County290,59472vs Forest Hill
IrvingDallas County256,49257vs Forest Hill
GarlandDallas County246,84458vs Forest Hill
FriscoCollin County219,30476vs Forest Hill
McKinneyCollin County210,60075vs Forest Hill
Grand PrairieDallas County201,88362vs Forest Hill
DentonDenton County152,86666vs Forest Hill
MesquiteDallas County149,29958vs Forest Hill
CarrolltonDenton County133,74065vs Forest Hill

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.