Berkshire County vs Franklin County

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

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

Berkshire County has the higher population (128,047 vs 70,922 in Franklin County). Franklin County has the higher median household income ($72,584 vs $72,565 in Berkshire County). Franklin County has the higher median home value ($303,400 vs $283,800 in Berkshire County).

Population, income & housing

	Berkshire County	Franklin County
Population	128,047	70,922
Median age	47.8 yrs	47.3 yrs
Median household income	$72,565	$72,584
Median home value	$283,800	$303,400
Median gross rent	$1,042	$1,169
Housing units	69,861	34,424
Homeownership rate	70.0%	68.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.3%	40.3%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Berkshire County	Franklin County
Population	126,425 → 128,047 (+1.3%)	70,577 → 70,922 (+0.5%)
Median household income	$59,230 → $72,565 (+22.5%)	$60,950 → $72,584 (+19.1%)
Median home value	$216,100 → $283,800 (+31.3%)	$232,100 → $303,400 (+30.7%)
Median gross rent	$872 → $1,042 (+19.5%)	$976 → $1,169 (+19.8%)

Berkshire County

Population

126,425128,047

Median household income

$59,230$72,565

Median home value

$216,100$283,800

Median gross rent

$872$1,042

Franklin County

Population

70,57770,922

Median household income

$60,950$72,584

Median home value

$232,100$303,400

Median gross rent

$976$1,169

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Berkshire County	Franklin County
Under 5	4.0%	3.8%
5 to 17	12.4%	13.1%
18 to 24	8.8%	6.7%
25 to 34	10.7%	11.5%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.9%	12.4%
55 to 64	16.3%	16.0%
65 to 74	14.3%	15.3%
75 and over	10.4%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Berkshire County	Franklin County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.7%	87.9%
Black or African American	2.3%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.8%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.1%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	5.6%	5.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Berkshire County	Franklin County
No high school diploma	6.3%	6.1%
High school graduate	29.3%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	26.1%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	20.3%	21.4%
Graduate or professional degree	17.9%	18.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Berkshire County	Franklin County
Drove alone	71.8%	70.3%
Carpooled	8.0%	8.7%
Public transit	1.4%	1.2%
Walked	5.2%	4.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.3%
Worked from home	12.7%	14.7%
Other means	0.7%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Berkshire County	Franklin County
1-unit, detached	65.7%	64.7%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	17.3%	17.4%
5 to 19 units	8.5%	8.2%
20 or more units	4.2%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	2.4%

Poverty & households

	Berkshire County	Franklin County
Poverty rate	11.0%	12.2%
Average household size	2.16	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	21	24
Median year structure built	1955	1961