10,024 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.3% since 2020)
582 square miles of land · 17 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
9 active community water systems list Franklin County in the area they serve, reporting 6,652 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HAMPTON MUNI WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA3544024 | 4,337 served |
| SHEFFIELD WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA3570037 | 1,130 served |
| LATIMER WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA3554061 | 477 served |
| COULTER WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA3525079 | 219 served |
| ALEXANDER WATER DEPT groundwater · local government · IA3503014 | 164 served |
| GENEVA WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA3539080 | 136 served |
| HANSELL WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · IA3549026 | 82 served |
| BEEDS LAKE HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION groundwater · private · IA3500933 | 75 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 5 people were held in Franklin County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (1983), or 65 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 1978 it was about 3.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
2 school districts have their office in Franklin County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $19 million — $16.7 million to run schools, about $12,837 per student, plus $1.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.5 million local (mostly property tax), $10 million state, $2.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $1.5 million.
Spent $4.4 million — $2.7 million to run schools, about $15,511 per student, plus $233,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.4 million local (mostly property tax), $2.3 million state, $795,000 federal.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Franklin County about $10.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
227 bridges in Franklin County: 103 in good condition, 96 fair, and 28 poor (12.3%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| FM 255TH ST over BEAVERDAM CREEK · built 1969 | 687 vehicles a day |
| 6TH ST NW over DRAINAGE · built 1940 | 349 vehicles a day |
| FM over IOWA RIVER · built 1959 | 320 vehicles a day |
| FM NETTLE AVE over BEEDS CREEK · built 1965 | 295 vehicles a day |
| FM LAKE DRIVE over OVER CNW RR · built 1936 | 255 vehicles a day |
| FM THRUSH AVE over MAYNES CREEK · built 1971 | 236 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $15.6 million of work in Franklin County in fiscal 2025, about $1,556 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Iowa are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Franklin County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Franklin County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Cerro Gordo County (23 mi) · Wright County (23 mi) · Hardin County (24 mi) · Butler County (25 mi) · Hamilton County (33 mi) · Floyd County (33 mi).