Best PlacesFranklin City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Franklin City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Franklin City ranks 2,590th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Crime pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on clean air.
The best neighborhoods in Franklin City
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Franklin City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Franklin City ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 74% of counties
Where Franklin City ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Franklin City
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Franklin City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $60,910; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Franklin City's effective rate of 0.80%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Franklin City
Franklin City runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Franklin City.
Who works in Franklin City, and how
Work in Franklin City centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Franklin City
Franklin City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Franklin City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Franklin City growing, and who is moving in?
Franklin City has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Virginia Beach, VA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Franklin City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Franklin City, month by month
Franklin City sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 40° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Franklin City
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Franklin City
Schools across Franklin City average a C+, better than 59% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- S.p. Morton ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Joseph P. King Jr. MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Franklin HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Franklin City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Franklin City measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Franklin City against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Franklin City
Is Franklin City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Franklin City ranks 2,590th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, civic engagement, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on crime and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Franklin City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $235,681. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $60,910 median income, cost of living beats 26% of counties.
Is Franklin City safe?
Franklin City is safer than 4% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $721 per resident a year.
Compare Franklin City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Franklin City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Franklin City represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Franklin City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Franklin City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Franklin City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Franklin City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Franklin City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Franklin City detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.