Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Franconia are higher than in 65% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Franconia C+; getting around on foot earns it B+. 11.4% of residents are in poverty, where New Hampshire as a whole has 7.2%. About one in seven work in Franconia itself; outside it, Littleton draws the most (22%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Franconia at work: what stands out
Franconia is where the jobs are
Franconia has 727 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Franconia are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across New Hampshire. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical New Hampshire worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 467 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Franconia
On income, poverty and job access, Franconia is better than 35% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Franconia’s grade up ($87,292, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: Franconia’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Franconia could be anywhere from D to B+.
A workday in Franconia: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 405 residents head out to work, 62 work right here, and 665 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Franconia on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Time on the road from Franconia: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Franconia workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 349 commuters (the 12% who work from home are left out). Across New Hampshire: 87% 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.
The towns that send workers to Franconia
Where Franconia clocks in
22% of workers
6% 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.
Jobs in Franconia: what the 727 are
727 jobs are based in Franconia.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Franconia, 2013 → 2023: 753 → 727. 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 Franconia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Franconia commutes
About 23% 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.
The commute in Franconia is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Franconia is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Franconia 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 396 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). 1.8% of Franconia households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Franconia’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,860th of 3,771: where Franconia ranks among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 387 | Mason NH | 1,460 | $111K | 4.7% | 2.7% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 530 | Center Harbor NH | 1,049 | $104K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 597 | Wilmot NH | 1,471 | $118K | 2.3% | 1.6% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,858 | Kingsley IA | 1,373 | $73K | 10.0% | 0.5% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,859 | Garrison ND | 1,446 | $72K | 6.5% | 0.0% | 26% | C+ |
| 1,860 | Franconia NH | 1,143 | $87K | 11.4% | 3.2% | 13% | C+ |
| 1,861 | Molino FL | 1,447 | $75K | 8.2% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,862 | Springdale NC | 1,075 | $55K | 19.0% | 0.0% | <1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Franconia, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
The towns around Franconia
The biggest share goes to Bethlehem (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Franconia workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franconia | – | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $87,292 |
| Sugar Hill | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Lincoln | 3% | C+ | A− | 23 min | $70,625 |
| Bethlehem | 6% | C | B− | 20 min | $85,029 |
| Easton | under 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sugar Hill and Easton: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Franconia’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 Franconia: questions
What is the median household income in Franconia?
$87,292 (±$27,597) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Franconia?
11.4%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Franconia?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Franconia work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Littleton (22%, 14 mi), Bethlehem (6%, 6 mi), Carroll (5%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Franconia walkable?
Franconia is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Franconia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Franconia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Franconia
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.