Franklin Center vs Watchung

A side-by-side comparison of Franklin Center and Watchung: population, income, housing, and more.

Franklin Center and Watchung are places in New Jersey. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Watchung has the higher population (6,429 vs 5,770 in Franklin Center). Watchung has the higher median household income ($166,536 vs $138,643 in Franklin Center). Watchung has the higher median home value ($833,300 vs $565,200 in Franklin Center).

Population, income & housing

	Franklin Center	Watchung
Population	5,770	6,429
Median age	56.4 yrs	46.4 yrs
Median household income	$138,643	$166,536
Median home value	$565,200	$833,300
Median gross rent	$2,588	$2,571
Housing units	2,592	2,429
Homeownership rate	69.4%	87.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	68.2%	62.8%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	8.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Franklin Center	Watchung
Population	5,860 → 5,770 (-1.5%)	6,039 → 6,429 (+6.5%)
Median household income	$104,044 → $138,643 (+33.3%)	$157,263 → $166,536 (+5.9%)
Median home value	$437,700 → $565,200 (+29.1%)	$674,500 → $833,300 (+23.5%)
Median gross rent	$2,013 → $2,588 (+28.6%)	$2,021 → $2,571 (+27.2%)

Franklin Center

Population

5,8605,770

Median household income

$104,044$138,643

Median home value

$437,700$565,200

Median gross rent

$2,013$2,588

Watchung

Population

6,0396,429

Median household income

$157,263$166,536

Median home value

$674,500$833,300

Median gross rent

$2,021$2,571

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Franklin Center	Watchung
Under 5	4.8%	3.9%
5 to 17	9.3%	17.2%
18 to 24	3.3%	5.9%
25 to 34	12.7%	7.6%
35 to 44	10.5%	11.4%
45 to 54	8.0%	10.9%
55 to 64	14.2%	15.0%
65 to 74	22.5%	17.1%
75 and over	14.6%	10.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Franklin Center	Watchung
White (non-Hispanic)	39.0%	73.2%
Black or African American	15.4%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	30.1%	11.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.8%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.6%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	11.1%	8.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Franklin Center	Watchung
No high school diploma	3.1%	4.9%
High school graduate	9.9%	14.5%
Some college or associate's	18.8%	17.8%
Bachelor's degree	33.6%	37.3%
Graduate or professional degree	34.6%	25.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Franklin Center	Watchung
Drove alone	56.8%	62.9%
Carpooled	10.0%	1.1%
Public transit	3.6%	6.9%
Walked	0.0%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	29.6%	27.8%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Franklin Center	Watchung
1-unit, detached	47.9%	78.3%
1-unit, attached	12.8%	4.3%
2 to 4 units	3.9%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	15.4%	9.2%
20 or more units	20.0%	7.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Franklin Center	Watchung
Poverty rate	5.6%	2.1%
Average household size	2.23	2.68
Mean commute (minutes)	35	32
Median year structure built	2006	1970