Best PlacesFranklin, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Franklin, 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 ranks 27,486th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Franklin
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Franklin ranks high
- Short commute18.5 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 77% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 71% of towns
Where Franklin ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Franklin
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Franklin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,619, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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's effective rate of 1.47%, 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 8 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
Franklin runs older than the country, 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.
Who works in Franklin, and how
Work in Franklin centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Franklin
Franklin has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Franklin and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Franklin, month by month
Franklin sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Franklin
The nearest airport, Dubois Regional, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Franklin
Schools across Franklin average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Valley Grove El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Seventh Street SchA · 70% proficient
- Sandycreek El SchB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oil City Area MsC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Oil City ShsA · 70% proficient
- Rocky Grove JshsA− · 60% proficient
- Cranberry Area JshsB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Franklin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Franklin 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Franklin
Is Franklin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Franklin ranks 27,486th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, walkability, and heat safety, and lowest on property taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Franklin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $144,010. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $62,619 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Franklin safe?
Franklin is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $345 per resident a year.
Compare Franklin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Franklin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Franklin 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Franklin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Franklin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Franklin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Franklin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Franklin 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.
- 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.