Photo: Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0Franklin has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
186 jobs are based in Franklin for 452 working residents. The two grades for Franklin are B for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 3% work in Franklin; the top destination outside it is Preston (24%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Franklin in brief
Many Franklin workers cross into Utah
48% of Franklin workers work outside Idaho, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Logan (13%), Lewiston (4%) and Smithfield (3%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Franklin and Preston trade workers both ways
Preston is the top workplace for Franklin residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Franklin come from (26% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 452 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Franklin’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Franklin is better than 56% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Franklin’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (6.2%) is left out: Franklin’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Franklin could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Where people from Franklin work
Where Franklin clocks in
24% of workers
13% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Franklin quiets down on a workday
On a workday 439 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 173 people come in from elsewhere.
About 890 people are in Franklin on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
65% of the jobs in Franklin make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Franklin, 2013 → 2023: 126 → 186. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Franklin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Franklin’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Franklin workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 462 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Idaho: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Miles to work from Franklin
About 23% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Franklin, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Franklin is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 3.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 542 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Franklin households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Franklin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Franklin comes 1,213th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 478 | Ucon ID | 1,196 | $89K | 4.2% | 1.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 533 | Robie Creek ID | 1,213 | $106K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 772 | Groveland ID | 1,422 | $76K | 2.0% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,211 | New Holstein WI | 1,490 | $101K | 13.7% | 2.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,212 | Sheffield Township OH | 1,471 | $92K | 5.9% | 3.5% | 1% | B |
| 1,213 | Franklin ID | 1,155 | $82K | 3.6% | 6.2% | 3% | B |
| 1,214 | Maroa IL | 1,517 | $73K | 6.8% | 5.3% | 6% | B |
| 1,215 | Dayton IN | 1,368 | $78K | 12.1% | 2.2% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Franklin, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Franklin: questions
What is the median household income in Franklin?
$81,830 (±$14,646) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Franklin?
3.6%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Franklin?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Franklin work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Preston (24%, 8 mi), Logan (13%, 18 mi), Lewiston (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Franklin walkable?
Franklin is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 3.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Franklin without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Franklin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Franklin
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.