Franklin County vs Harlan County

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

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

Harlan County has the higher population (3,006 vs 2,868 in Franklin County). Harlan County has the higher median household income ($70,536 vs $57,692 in Franklin County). Harlan County has the higher median home value ($147,200 vs $99,100 in Franklin County).

Population, income & housing

	Franklin County	Harlan County
Population	2,868	3,006
Median age	49.0 yrs	47.1 yrs
Median household income	$57,692	$70,536
Median home value	$99,100	$147,200
Median gross rent	$613	$708
Housing units	1,543	1,890
Homeownership rate	79.5%	84.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.0%	24.2%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	1.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Franklin County	Harlan County
Population	2,987 → 2,868 (-4.0%)	3,415 → 3,006 (-12.0%)
Median household income	$49,282 → $57,692 (+17.1%)	$49,835 → $70,536 (+41.5%)
Median home value	$71,300 → $99,100 (+39.0%)	$102,700 → $147,200 (+43.3%)
Median gross rent	$473 → $613 (+29.6%)	$634 → $708 (+11.7%)

Franklin County

Population

2,9872,868

Median household income

$49,282$57,692

Median home value

$71,300$99,100

Median gross rent

$473$613

Harlan County

Population

3,4153,006

Median household income

$49,835$70,536

Median home value

$102,700$147,200

Median gross rent

$634$708

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Franklin County	Harlan County
Under 5	5.5%	5.8%
5 to 17	14.8%	17.5%
18 to 24	5.4%	6.1%
25 to 34	10.1%	8.1%
35 to 44	10.4%	10.1%
45 to 54	10.0%	9.1%
55 to 64	15.9%	16.3%
65 to 74	15.2%	14.3%
75 and over	12.7%	12.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Franklin County	Harlan County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.3%	93.6%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.8%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Franklin County	Harlan County
No high school diploma	5.8%	7.5%
High school graduate	32.6%	28.7%
Some college or associate's	41.6%	39.7%
Bachelor's degree	12.0%	17.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Franklin County	Harlan County
Drove alone	83.3%	74.6%
Carpooled	7.6%	13.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	2.7%	5.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	4.2%	6.0%
Other means	2.3%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Franklin County	Harlan County
1-unit, detached	91.0%	75.4%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	1.0%
20 or more units	0.1%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	5.2%	21.5%

Poverty & households

	Franklin County	Harlan County
Poverty rate	14.1%	7.2%
Average household size	2.17	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	19	21
Median year structure built	1943	1966