Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Few places in the country grade higher. Franklin Town earns an A+, 34th of 282 graded towns in Massachusetts. It is healthier than 94% of U.S. towns, it reports less crime per resident than 89% of U.S. towns, and the median household earns $146K. The exception is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $704K for a typical one and 6.1 times the Boston metro’s $116K median household income. Franklin Town’s trail network density is 1.9 miles per square mile, near the Massachusetts town median (1.8) and above the median of U.S. towns (0.4). On hazard risk, just 27 of Massachusetts’ 325 towns do better. Franklin Town is home to Dean College.
Where Franklin Town beats most towns.
Dean Junior College Historic District| Widest gap | Franklin Town | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.3% | 5.2% |
Census counts: 1,101 in 1790, 33,261 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1859 and 8 maps from 1887 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Massachusetts), ordered by how far Franklin Town is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Franklin Town. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaGillette Stadium
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaFenway Park
Big draw22 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
Big draw24 mi MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
29 mi MuseumUSS Massachusetts
25 mi LakeWalden PondGillette Stadium: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fenway Park: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sean Dungan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · USS Massachusetts: USN, Public domain · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Franklin Town, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Franklin Town.
Franklin Town trades workers with Boston and other neighbors, has less no health insurance than most of Massachusetts and pairs an A− for schools with high home prices.
Its widest gap with Massachusetts is no health insurance: 3.3% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 5.2% statewide. Against the 3,059 U.S. towns with household incomes like Franklin Town’s, it is healthier than 78%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Franklin Town: 13% of adults say their health is fair or poor, where Massachusetts’ towns sit at 15% and U.S. towns at 19%. In Franklin Town, nearly a quarter of adults have obesity. Among adults here, 16% get no exercise outside work and 29% have high blood pressure.
| Franklin Town | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 28% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 19% | 25% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.2% | 9.3% | 12% |
| What stands out | Franklin Town | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.2% | 12.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its A− for schools comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $704K.
The Franklin school district runs its public schools. Three of its 13 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. The 6 public schools in Franklin Town teach 2,827 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 898 | B+ |
| Franklin HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,453 | A |
| J F Kennedy MemorialTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 341 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Violent crime is rare: 24 reported in 2025, 0.7 per 1,000 residents.
For Franklin Town, the level of property crime is 2 per 1,000 residents. Its violent crime rate is 0.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Franklin Town | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.7 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected losses in Franklin Town break down as 67% from inland flooding and 13% from hurricanes. The FEMA hazard score for Franklin Town comes to 10 of 100. 23 flood insurance claims have been paid here since 1979.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Walkers can cover 51 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Town Forest, 221 acres with 2.4 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Town Forest | 2.4 mi | 221 |
| 2. Riverbend | 1.6 mi | 40 |
| 3. Franklin Town Common | 0.3 mi | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
In July, afternoons reach 84°; in January, nights fall to 18°, and about 48 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Franklin Town has about as many jobs (15,282) as working residents, but only 2,058 people both live and work here.
Just just over a tenth of Franklin Town’s working residents have a job in town. The average commute here is 33 minutes. The median commute is under 17 miles. For workers in the town, the share who work from home is 22%.
| Franklin Town | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $146,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 22% | 18% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 9.8% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Homes here are typically worth about $704,000, up 3% in a year, 7% above the Massachusetts typical home. Franklin Town’s going rate for rent stands at $1,899 a month. A home in Franklin Town typically sold within 19 days of listing.
| Franklin Town | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,899 a month | $1,682 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 78% | 79% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
4 within 15 miles of the center of Franklin Town
About 7 of every 100 Franklin Town residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Massachusetts.
3 places in Franklin Town on the National Register of Historic Places.
16 notable people were born in Franklin Town.
City in Massachusetts, United States
The Town of Franklin is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Franklin is one of thirteen Massachusetts municipalities that have applied for, and been granted, city forms of government but wish to retain "The town of" in their official names. As of 2022, the city's population was 36,745, with a growth rate of 15.38% since 2015. It is home to the country's first public library, the Franklin Public Library, its first books having been donated by Benjamin Franklin in 1790. It also contains the largest Catholic parish in the Boston Archdiocese, St. Mary's Catholic church, with some 15,000 members.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Franklin Town.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Town | #34 | A+ | C− | A | A− | A |
| Medway | #23 | A+ | C | A | A− | A+ |
| Norfolk | #32 | A+ | D | A | A− | A+ |
| Bellingham | #183 | B− | C | B− | C | A |
| Wrentham | #104 | A− | C+ | C+ | B+ | A |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Franklin Town grades A+ overall, better than 97% of U.S. towns and #34 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades A for health, A for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes, by national standards. Franklin Town reports less crime per resident than 89% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade: 24 violent and 68 property crimes in 2025.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
16 notable people were born here, including Horace Mann and Peter Laviolette.
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