Franklin Grade and High School · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Franklin draws 6,455 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns. There are 7,911 jobs in Franklin, against 4,266 working residents. Franklin grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
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
Franklin is where the jobs are
Franklin has 7,911 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Franklin and Bowling Green trade workers both ways
Bowling Green is the top workplace for Franklin residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Franklin come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Franklin draws workers from far and wide
The 7,911 jobs in Franklin are filled from a wide area. Franklin’s own residents hold 18% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Franklin are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. Time on the road ↓
Franklin has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Franklin went from 5,475 in 2013 to 7,911 in 2023, +44%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Franklin
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Franklin is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #86 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Franklin’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Franklin could be anywhere from D to B.
How a workday changes Franklin
On a workday 2,810 residents head out to work and 1,456 work right here.
About 14,000 people are in Franklin on a workday afternoon, 34% more 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.
Where the people who work in Franklin live
Where Franklin clocks in
18% of workers
5% 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.
The trip to work from Franklin: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Franklin workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,110 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Kentucky: 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.
Factories, building and farms: 33% of the jobs in Franklin
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Franklin, 2013 → 2023: 5,475 → 7,911. 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Franklin
About 20% 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, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Franklin is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #47 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Franklin near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,297 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). 4.3% of Franklin households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Franklin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Franklin is 2,041st of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Francisville KY | 10,565 | $159K | 1.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Oakbrook KY | 10,211 | $95K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Edgewood KY | 8,503 | $119K | 3.8% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,039 | Camden SC | 9,201 | $64K | 13.2% | 8.2% | 17% | C |
| 2,040 | Wharton TX | 8,776 | $58K | 11.9% | 6.2% | 15% | C |
| 2,041 | Franklin KY | 10,759 | $59K | 17.1% | 6.2% | 34% | C |
| 2,042 | Brevard NC | 8,098 | $54K | 15.1% | 3.6% | 33% | C |
| 2,043 | Rio Vista CA | 10,523 | $89K | 10.3% | 10.9% | 17% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Kentucky.
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?
$59,052 (±$8,425) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Franklin?
17.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Franklin?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Franklin work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bowling Green (18%, 19 mi), Portland (5%, 8 mi), Nashville (2%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Franklin walkable?
Franklin is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Franklin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% 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.