Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Franklin has lower household incomes than 82% of U.S. towns
24.6% of residents live below the poverty line, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. The two grades for Franklin are D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. 4% of workers have no commute at all, where Texas as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Franklin, in a few figures
A big share show a job far from home
48% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Franklin’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Franklin is Bryan, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (75) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Franklin has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Franklin went from 404 in 2013 to 676 in 2023, +67%. 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; with 666 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Franklin’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Franklin is better than 8% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Franklin’s grade up (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (6.7%) is left out: Franklin’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Franklin could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Near or far: the trip to work from Franklin
About 48% 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.
Most jobs in Franklin are in services
676 jobs are based in Franklin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Franklin, 2013 → 2023: 404 → 676. 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.
How a workday changes Franklin
On a workday 571 residents head out to work, 95 work right here, and 581 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 (1.02 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.
11% of working residents work in Bryan
Where Franklin clocks in
11% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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 daily trip from Franklin: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Franklin workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 547 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% 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.
Franklin is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Franklin is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.0% across Texas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 570 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). 6.4% of Franklin households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Franklin’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Franklin ranks: 4,622nd of 5,343 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 24 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,620 | Tecumseh NE | 1,695 | $45K | 12.8% | 6.3% | 30% | D |
| 4,621 | Norwood NY | 1,521 | $54K | 17.2% | 8.4% | 2% | D |
| 4,622 | Franklin TX | 1,805 | $54K | 24.6% | 6.7% | 14% | D |
| 4,623 | Helper UT | 2,126 | $57K | 17.6% | 6.4% | 3% | D |
| 4,624 | Darrington WA | 1,500 | $66K | 19.4% | 10.8% | 11% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Franklin, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
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?
$54,265 (±$15,225) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Franklin?
24.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Franklin?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Franklin work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bryan (11%, 26 mi), Houston (8%, 108 mi), Austin (8%, 90 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Franklin walkable?
Franklin is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Franklin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% 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.