Woods Hill · Photo: Kingrichard4867 · CC BY-SA 3.0Franklin has higher unemployment (7.9%) than 88% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Franklin C−; getting around on foot earns it B+. For 5% of workers, the job is at home, next to 18% for Virginia as a whole. About one in five stay in Franklin for work; outside it, Suffolk is the main destination (10%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Franklin, in a few figures
Franklin trades workers with the towns around it
Franklin has about as many jobs (3,605) as working residents (3,039), but they are mostly different people: 2,421 residents leave for work each day while 2,987 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Franklin are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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 ↓
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.
What’s behind Franklin’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Franklin is better than 17% of U.S. towns, #239 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Franklin’s grade up (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Franklin could be anywhere from D to B−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Franklin
On a workday 2,421 residents head out to work, 618 work right here, and 2,987 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 (1.19 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Franklin
About 32% 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.
Where the trip to work from Franklin ends
Where Franklin clocks in
10% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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 work there is in Franklin: 3,605 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Franklin, 2013 → 2023: 3,593 → 3,605. 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 23 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 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,046 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Virginia: 83% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Getting around Franklin: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Franklin is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #151 of 253 in Virginia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Virginia, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,196 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). 9.1% of Franklin households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Franklin’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,634th of 2,981: where Franklin ranks among U.S. towns of 5,900 to 11,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 4 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 5 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,632 | Wellsville NY | 6,859 | $63K | 16.0% | 5.6% | 34% | C− |
| 2,633 | Detroit Lakes MN | 10,019 | $63K | 16.6% | 6.8% | 56% | C− |
| 2,634 | Franklin VA | 8,478 | $63K | 19.3% | 7.9% | 20% | C− |
| 2,635 | Princeton KY | 6,168 | $47K | 15.8% | 4.5% | 40% | C− |
| 2,636 | Silsbee TX | 6,613 | $60K | 20.0% | 7.3% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,981 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Virginia.
Next door to Franklin
The biggest share goes to Camptown (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Franklin workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin | – | C− | B+ | 23 min | $63,245 |
| Camptown | 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Camptown: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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?
$63,245 (±$6,558) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Franklin?
19.3%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Franklin?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Franklin work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Suffolk (10%, 17 mi), Richmond (3%, 66 mi), Chesapeake (2%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Franklin walkable?
Franklin is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Franklin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% 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.