Franklin County, KY

County Profile

51,842 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Franklin County, KY.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

64out of 100
Area Score
Top 42% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 35% of 1,255 counties63
Schools806th of 973 counties24
GrowthTop 14% of 1,226 counties70
Housing affordabilityTop 38% of 1,255 counties96
ClimateTop 26% of 1,254 counties74
Physical resilience680th of 1,255 counties58
Access872nd of 1,255 counties71
Economic stabilityTop 43% of 1,255 counties66
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.9% and median household income $65,298, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

In the public schools here, 26% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.2 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 18% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.3 times that income.

At a glance

Population
51,842
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$65,298
Top 50% nationally
Density
249/sq mi
207.9 sq mi of land
Median age
40.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Franklin County
Kentucky
Metro area
Frankfort, KY
Nearest major airport
SDF
47 mi · Louisville Muhammad Ali Intl
Median home value
$216,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 25% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 2.1% over the past year, to 26,127 employed residents.

32% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 80% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$5,158$65,298Top 50%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,989$39,218Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.6%Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.8 minBottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher31.9%Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment26,127Bottom 34%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)7.3%Top 3%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.1%Top 7%June 2026
Labor force27,468Bottom 34%June 2026
Labor force participation62.4%Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.5%Top 27%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 25%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.03.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.9% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202466k59k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $65,298 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

26% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 38% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.2 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
16
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
25.7%
Bottom 20% in Kentucky
Reading proficiency
38.4%
Bottom 17% in Kentucky
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Franklin County High SchoolFranklin County99018.3
Western Hills High SchoolFranklin County82717.6
Elkhorn Middle SchoolFranklin County72516.512%32%
Bondurant Middle SchoolFranklin County60015.022%52%
Second Street SchoolFrankfort Independent56513.823%35%
Collins LaneFranklin County50913.441%48%
Hearn ElementaryFranklin County47614.927%35%
Peaks Mill ElementaryFranklin County45314.630%37%
Elkhorn Elementary SchoolFranklin County40914.625%37%
Bridgeport Elementary SchoolFranklin County40212.628%30%
Early Learning VillageFranklin County36015.7
Westridge ElementaryFranklin County35112.133%38%

56.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Kentucky’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $967 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
17.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$967
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$216,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.32Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate64.5%Bottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±6224,163Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$40$967Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,245$216,600Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.8%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.0%Bottom 9%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
70/ 100
Top 14% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 52,442 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 14% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 3.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
173
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.3
Top 45% nationally
Year over year
+37%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
13.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202452k52k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202220232024202512396
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−12%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 25°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.3 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station FRANKFORT CAPITAL CITY AP, 3.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation47.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low25°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing43°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

58 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and strong wind.

Strong windModerate
TornadoModerate
Inland floodingElevated
EarthquakeModerate

Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, winter weather, lightning, cold wave, landslide, hail, heat wave, hurricane, drought, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Franklin County records 3.7 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 25.2 per 100,000 residents in Franklin County.

Homicide
3.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
25.2
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
16.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Franklin County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Franklin County rather than Franklin County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 47 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Louisville Muhammad Ali IntlSDF47 mi11,887 ft
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky IntlCVG57 mi10,000 ft
Wilmington Air ParkILN101 mi10,701 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
64
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Franklin County, KY