Photo: User:Mingusboodle · Public domainJobs, pay and the trip to work in Franklin
A typical one-way commute from Franklin lasts 25 minutes (Indiana 24, U.S. 26). The two grades for Franklin are B for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in five stay in Franklin for work; outside it, Indianapolis is the main destination (32%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Franklin apart on work
Franklin trades workers with the towns around it
Franklin has about as many jobs (13,528) as working residents (11,766), but they are mostly different people: 9,252 residents leave for work each day while 11,014 people come in. Only 19% of the jobs in Franklin are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Franklin and Indianapolis trade workers both ways
Indianapolis is the top workplace for Franklin residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Franklin come from (14% 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.
How Franklin earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Franklin is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #211 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds Franklin’s grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Franklin could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Who leaves Franklin for work, and who comes in
On a workday 9,252 residents head out to work, 2,514 work right here, and 11,014 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.15 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Franklin’s residents
Where Franklin clocks in
32% of workers
8% 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.
What Franklin’s employers do
13,528 jobs are based in Franklin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Franklin, 2013 → 2023: 12,070 → 13,528. 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.
Time on the road from Franklin: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Franklin workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,259 commuters (the 12% who work from home are left out). Across Indiana: 85% 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.
How many miles Franklin commutes
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.
The commute in Franklin is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Franklin is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #280 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.3% across Indiana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,726 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 4.7% of Franklin households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Franklin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Franklin is 798th of 1,477 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 36,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | St. John IN | 24,841 | $131K | 2.1% | 2.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Zionsville IN | 33,624 | $172K | 3.1% | 2.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Vernon Township IN | 20,047 | $108K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 796 | Johnston RI | 30,494 | $92K | 7.9% | 7.4% | 11% | B |
| 797 | Port Chester NY | 32,303 | $92K | 12.9% | 5.4% | 10% | B |
| 798 | Franklin IN | 26,743 | $82K | 11.0% | 3.9% | 21% | B |
| 799 | Brandon MS | 26,122 | $93K | 8.5% | 5.2% | 10% | B |
| 800 | Rahway NJ | 31,010 | $91K | 9.5% | 7.3% | 7% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,477 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Indiana.
Franklin and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Whiteland (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Franklin’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: questions
What is the median household income in Franklin?
$82,380 (±$7,285) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Franklin?
11.0%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Franklin?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Franklin work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Indianapolis (32%, 20 mi), Greenwood (8%, 8 mi), Columbus (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Franklin walkable?
Franklin is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Franklin without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
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.