Franklin TownshipIL
A town of 2,205. 57% more nonprofits per person than the typical Illinois town.
Is Franklin Township a good place to live?
Franklin Township’s best subject grade is an A for civic life; its weakest is a C for walkability. Franklin Township’s average trip to work is 34 minutes, where Illinois’ towns sit at 26 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. On civic life, just 97 of Illinois’ 1,240 towns do better. Potowatomi Forest Preserve, at 334 acres with 4.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Franklin Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Franklin Township stand out
Where Franklin Township beats most towns.
Franklin Township has shrunk 12% since 2010
2,502 counted in 2010 and 2,231 in 2020; an estimated 2,205 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Franklin Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Franklin Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Franklin Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Franklin Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Franklin Township.
Most of Franklin Township’s workers commute out: the town has 0.3 jobs for each of them
Most working residents leave Franklin Township for work: only 3% work in town. Jobs based in Franklin Township fell to 342 in 2023, 119 fewer than in 2013. 13% of residents live below the poverty line in Franklin Township, above both the Illinois town median (8.4%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%).
| Franklin Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.2% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $88,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Franklin Township’s public schools trail 65% of Illinois districts
Its public schools are run by Hiawatha CUSD 426. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiawatha Elem Sch PreK-5Largest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 216 | B+ |
| Hiawatha Jr/Sr High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 211 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Franklin Township has four seasons and pleasant summers
Franklin Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 13° and about 39 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
On CDC estimates, Franklin Township is healthier than 60% of U.S. towns
Franklin Township beats the Illinois average on 5 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 20% of adults binge drink in Franklin Township.
| Franklin Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 35% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 77% | 78% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Franklin Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.4% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.9% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.8% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Franklin Township faces a moderate natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 58% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 22 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Franklin Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Conserved land covers 5.5% of Franklin Township
24 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. The trail density in Franklin Township is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Franklin Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.5% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Potowatomi Forest Preserve | 4.3 mi | 334 |
| 2. The Prairie at Walnut Grove | 0.9 mi | 10 |
| 3. MacQueen Forest Preserve | 0.8 mi | 52 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median home in Franklin Township sells for about $170K
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Illinois Railway Museum and 21 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Franklin Township. Close and well known come first.
20 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
16 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center
14 mi TheatreEgyptian Theatre, DeKalb
15 mi GardenAnderson Japanese Gardens
36 mi National Historic SiteRonald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site
32 mi Theme parkSanta's Village Amusement & Water ParkPhoto credits
Illinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0 · Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb: Andy McMurray, CC BY 2.5 · Anderson Japanese Gardens: M. Readey, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site: Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Santa's Village Amusement & Water Park: Martin Lewison from The Hague, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Everything we know about Franklin Township
Colleges nearby
5 within 15 miles of the center of Franklin Township
About 5 of every 100 Franklin Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
97% of working residents leave Franklin Township for work
Where Franklin Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Franklin Township
Township in Illinois, United States
Franklin Township is one of nineteen townships in DeKalb County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,231 and it contained 917 housing units.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 36 sq mi
- Elevation
- 791 ft
Franklin Township’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Franklin Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Township | — | — | B | — | C+ | B |
| Monroe Township | — | — | B+ | — | B+ | C |
| Kingston Township | #411 | B | B | — | B | B |
| Flora Township | #755 | D− | C− | — | C− | B− |
Franklin Township and Monroe Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Franklin Township, Monroe Township, Kingston Township and Flora Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Franklin Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Franklin Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Franklin Township, IL a good place to live?
57% more nonprofits per person than the typical Illinois town.
Is Franklin Township, IL expensive?
The typical home is worth about $221,000, 25% below the Illinois typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.