Franklin County vs Jefferson County

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

Franklin County and Jefferson County are counties in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Franklin County has the higher population (37,541 vs 36,808 in Jefferson County). Jefferson County has the higher median household income ($61,102 vs $53,471 in Franklin County). Jefferson County has the higher median home value ($118,400 vs $87,700 in Franklin County).

Population, income & housing

	Franklin County	Jefferson County
Population	37,541	36,808
Median age	43.4 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$53,471	$61,102
Median home value	$87,700	$118,400
Median gross rent	$771	$862
Housing units	18,468	16,650
Homeownership rate	74.8%	71.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.1%	18.4%
Unemployment rate	6.5%	6.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Franklin County	Jefferson County
Population	38,923 → 37,541 (-3.6%)	37,985 → 36,808 (-3.1%)
Median household income	$42,769 → $53,471 (+25.0%)	$49,896 → $61,102 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$76,100 → $87,700 (+15.2%)	$96,700 → $118,400 (+22.4%)
Median gross rent	$637 → $771 (+21.0%)	$701 → $862 (+23.0%)

Franklin County

Population

38,92337,541

Median household income

$42,769$53,471

Median home value

$76,100$87,700

Median gross rent

$637$771

Jefferson County

Population

37,98536,808

Median household income

$49,896$61,102

Median home value

$96,700$118,400

Median gross rent

$701$862

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Franklin County	Jefferson County
Under 5	5.7%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.5%	16.6%
18 to 24	7.1%	7.3%
25 to 34	11.3%	12.1%
35 to 44	11.6%	12.5%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.4%
55 to 64	13.9%	13.5%
65 to 74	12.0%	11.6%
75 and over	8.7%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Franklin County	Jefferson County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.5%	84.3%
Black or African American	0.4%	6.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.5%	5.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Franklin County	Jefferson County
No high school diploma	10.8%	8.6%
High school graduate	32.3%	32.7%
Some college or associate's	39.8%	40.3%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	11.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	6.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Franklin County	Jefferson County
Drove alone	80.1%	82.3%
Carpooled	9.6%	10.3%
Public transit	0.8%	0.3%
Walked	1.5%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.8%	4.8%
Other means	0.9%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Franklin County	Jefferson County
1-unit, detached	78.4%	69.7%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	7.0%	4.4%
5 to 19 units	1.0%	5.5%
20 or more units	1.4%	2.5%
Mobile home & other	10.9%	17.3%

Poverty & households

	Franklin County	Jefferson County
Poverty rate	16.9%	14.2%
Average household size	2.30	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	27	20
Median year structure built	1965	1977