Introduction
Franklin’s past is rich in industrial history. Once a thriving manufacturing community during the industrial revolution, Franklin’s landscape was covered with mill buildings and prospered as a manufacturer of textiles and straw hats, the oldest industrial operation in Franklin. While the mill buildings of Franklin’s history are landmarks of an era past, today, Franklin’s two large industrial parks, Franklin Industrial Park and Forge Park, house millions of square feet of manufacturing, industrial, warehousing and office space combined with several smaller office and industrial parks along the Grove Street Corridor and elsewhere.
Franklin is a growth community with a pro-business environment, a low stable single tax rate, streamlined permitting processes, ample industrial land, modernized infrastructure, excellent municipal services, well-educated workforce, diverse housing opportunities and a great quality of life. Predominately a manufacturing town, Franklin is home to dozens of research and development and manufacturing companies and has attracted innovative technology companies in a wide range of industries: nanotechnology, data storage, specialty materials, life sciences - biotechnology, and medical devices.
Existing Conditions and Trends
POPULATION AND LABOR FORCE
Over the last four decades, Franklin has nearly doubled its population, growing from a community of 17,304 individuals in 1981 to its current 33,057 (91 percent increase). According to the American Community Survey (ACS), in 2021, the population of Franklin was 33,057, with 12,511 households. The average household size in Franklin is 2.6 people, on par with the state and county average of 2.5 people per household. Population growth was especially significant during the 1980s and 1990s: the town’s population increased 31.0 percent between 1981 and 1990, and an additional 31.2 percent between 1990 and 2000. These two decades of growth increased Franklin’s population by 71.9 percent, averaging approximately 3.6 percent per year.2 More recently, population growth has slowed, increasing by only 4.5 percent between 2010 and 2021.
During the last two decades there have also been substantial changes in the number and percent of Franklin’s residents within specific age categories. With a median age of 41, Franklin’s population is marginally older than that of Massachusetts (median age 39.6) or Norfolk County overall (median age 40.7). In general, compared to ten years ago, there are fewer children, somewhat fewer adults under the age of 55, and substantially more residents over the age of 55 living in Franklin today. As a result, Franklin’s labor force is aging (see Figure 4.1); between 2016 and 2021, the proportion of workers aged 55 to 64 increased by 22 percent, while the proportion over 65 increased by 71 percent.
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
The labor force of any city or town includes all civilian residents over the age of 16 who are either currently employed or are actively seeking employment. Although Franklin experienced only a 4.5 percent increase in population since the 2013 Master Plan, the Town has experienced a significantly higher increase (32.4 percent) in labor force participation. In 2021, Franklin had a labor force of 19,326 people and a labor force participation rate higher than that of both Norfolk County and Massachusetts (Table 4.1).
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