Centre County vs Franklin County

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

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

Centre County has the higher population (158,041 vs 156,626 in Franklin County). Franklin County has the higher median household income ($74,946 vs $72,748 in Centre County). Centre County has the higher median home value ($308,100 vs $236,300 in Franklin County).

Population, income & housing

	Centre County	Franklin County
Population	158,041	156,626
Median age	33.8 yrs	42.2 yrs
Median household income	$72,748	$74,946
Median home value	$308,100	$236,300
Median gross rent	$1,181	$1,071
Housing units	66,023	66,787
Homeownership rate	61.8%	73.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.5%	24.0%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Centre County	Franklin County
Population	161,960 → 158,041 (-2.4%)	154,147 → 156,626 (+1.6%)
Median household income	$60,403 → $72,748 (+20.4%)	$63,379 → $74,946 (+18.3%)
Median home value	$234,900 → $308,100 (+31.2%)	$180,400 → $236,300 (+31.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,000 → $1,181 (+18.1%)	$883 → $1,071 (+21.3%)

Centre County

Population

161,960158,041

Median household income

$60,403$72,748

Median home value

$234,900$308,100

Median gross rent

$1,000$1,181

Franklin County

Population

154,147156,626

Median household income

$63,379$74,946

Median home value

$180,400$236,300

Median gross rent

$883$1,071

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Centre County	Franklin County
Under 5	3.6%	5.6%
5 to 17	11.1%	16.5%
18 to 24	23.5%	7.3%
25 to 34	13.0%	12.1%
35 to 44	11.1%	11.8%
45 to 54	10.6%	12.9%
55 to 64	11.5%	13.7%
65 to 74	9.1%	11.4%
75 and over	6.4%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Centre County	Franklin County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.5%	85.0%
Black or African American	3.2%	3.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	6.0%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.3%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	7.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Centre County	Franklin County
No high school diploma	5.4%	9.3%
High school graduate	28.5%	43.3%
Some college or associate's	19.6%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	22.4%	14.3%
Graduate or professional degree	24.1%	9.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Centre County	Franklin County
Drove alone	66.0%	78.5%
Carpooled	6.8%	7.9%
Public transit	3.6%	0.2%
Walked	7.6%	3.0%
Bicycle	1.8%	0.2%
Worked from home	13.6%	8.9%
Other means	0.6%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Centre County	Franklin County
1-unit, detached	58.7%	68.3%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	12.3%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	12.3%	3.9%
20 or more units	10.9%	2.3%
Mobile home & other	4.9%	6.2%

Poverty & households

	Centre County	Franklin County
Poverty rate	16.9%	7.8%
Average household size	2.33	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	20	24
Median year structure built	1980	1978