Photo: Archaic saji at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0At 6.1%, unemployment in Franklin Park is higher than in 75% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 36.9 in Chicago. The two grades for Franklin Park are B for jobs and income and A for walkability. Home is the office for 7% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Franklin Park
Franklin Park and Chicago trade workers both ways
Chicago is the top workplace for Franklin Park residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Franklin Park come from (22% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Franklin Park is where the jobs are
Franklin Park has 14,222 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Franklin Park makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Franklin Park are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Franklin Park residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 19%. The jobs ↓
Franklin Park draws workers from far and wide
The 14,222 jobs in Franklin Park are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 34%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Franklin Park
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Franklin Park is better than 61% of U.S. towns, #411 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Franklin Park’s grade up (among the top U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Franklin Park could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
The towns that send workers to Franklin Park
Where Franklin Park clocks in
27% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
In and out of Franklin Park on a workday
On a workday 7,950 residents head out to work, 623 work right here, and 13,599 people come in from elsewhere.
About 24,000 people are in Franklin Park on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods jobs make up 43% of work in Franklin Park
14,222 jobs are based in Franklin Park.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Franklin Park, 2013 → 2023: 15,745 → 14,222. 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 Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Franklin Park, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Franklin Park workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,441 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Franklin Park’s workers travel
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Franklin Park
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Franklin Park is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #88 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 9,111 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 44% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.6% of Franklin Park households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Franklin Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
979th of 1,822: where Franklin Park ranks among U.S. towns of 13,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 977 | Middletown RI | 16,502 | $102K | 8.5% | 6.0% | 26% | B |
| 978 | Manor TX | 23,070 | $85K | 9.8% | 5.7% | 4% | B |
| 979 | Franklin Park IL | 18,045 | $77K | 9.4% | 6.1% | 7% | B |
| 980 | Sherrelwood CO | 18,692 | $75K | 10.7% | 5.0% | 1% | B |
| 981 | Moody AL | 13,559 | $87K | 7.7% | 5.7% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,822 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Park, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Franklin Park and its neighbors: 34% work next door
The biggest share goes to Chicago (27%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Franklin Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Park | – | B | A | 29 min | $76,519 |
| Schiller Park | 2% | A | A | 25 min | $69,696 |
| Chicago | 27% | B− | A+ | 33 min | $77,902 |
| Leyden Township | under 2% | B+ | A | 29 min | $79,935 |
| Northlake | under 2% | B | A | 29 min | $83,892 |
| Melrose Park | 3% | B− | A | 27 min | $66,189 |
| River Grove | under 2% | B+ | A+ | 31 min | $69,858 |
| Bensenville | 2% | B+ | A− | 26 min | $79,515 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Franklin Park’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Park: questions
What is the median household income in Franklin Park?
$76,519 (±$5,999) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Franklin Park?
9.4%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Franklin Park?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Franklin Park work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (27%, 12 mi), Elk Grove Village (3%, 8 mi), Melrose Park (3%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Franklin Park walkable?
Franklin Park is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 15.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Franklin Park without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 44% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Franklin Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Franklin Park
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.