Franklin vs Highlands

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

Franklin and Highlands are places in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Franklin has the higher population (4,221 vs 1,276 in Highlands). Highlands has the higher median household income ($63,750 vs $43,991 in Franklin). Highlands has the higher median home value ($666,300 vs $190,600 in Franklin).

Population, income & housing

	Franklin	Highlands
Population	4,221	1,276
Median age	47.3 yrs	58.4 yrs
Median household income	$43,991	$63,750
Median home value	$190,600	$666,300
Median gross rent	$738	$905
Housing units	2,192	2,528
Homeownership rate	56.5%	59.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.2%	53.0%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Franklin	Highlands
Population	3,980 → 4,221 (+6.1%)	1,164 → 1,276 (+9.6%)
Median household income	$36,134 → $43,991 (+21.7%)	$54,226 → $63,750 (+17.6%)
Median home value	$139,200 → $190,600 (+36.9%)	$538,600 → $666,300 (+23.7%)
Median gross rent	$749 → $738 (-1.5%)	$946 → $905 (-4.3%)

Franklin

Population

3,9804,221

Median household income

$36,134$43,991

Median home value

$139,200$190,600

Median gross rent

$749$738

Highlands

Population

1,1641,276

Median household income

$54,226$63,750

Median home value

$538,600$666,300

Median gross rent

$946$905

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Franklin	Highlands
Under 5	4.8%	0.4%
5 to 17	14.3%	11.0%
18 to 24	9.6%	6.6%
25 to 34	6.8%	7.6%
35 to 44	10.9%	8.9%
45 to 54	12.4%	10.5%
55 to 64	15.9%	16.3%
65 to 74	11.6%	23.0%
75 and over	13.7%	15.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Franklin	Highlands
White (non-Hispanic)	72.5%	85.0%
Black or African American	2.0%	3.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.8%	0.5%
Hispanic or Latino	17.4%	10.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Franklin	Highlands
No high school diploma	19.0%	4.2%
High school graduate	22.1%	10.3%
Some college or associate's	36.8%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	30.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	22.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Franklin	Highlands
Drove alone	82.4%	54.0%
Carpooled	9.7%	6.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	20.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.3%	19.4%
Other means	1.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Franklin	Highlands
1-unit, detached	62.2%	75.1%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	11.0%
5 to 19 units	12.0%	8.4%
20 or more units	8.6%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	6.8%	4.5%

Poverty & households

	Franklin	Highlands
Poverty rate	21.6%	12.8%
Average household size	2.10	1.72
Mean commute (minutes)	24	14
Median year structure built	1983	1979