52,442 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.6% since 2020)
208 square miles of land · 252 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.
4 active community water systems list Franklin County in the area they serve, reporting 65,214 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| FRANKFORT PLANT BOARD surface water · local government · KY0370143 | 52,153 served |
| FARMDALE WATER DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · KY0370128 | 8,203 served |
| PEAKS MILL WATER DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · KY0370346 | 3,268 served |
| ELKHORN WATER DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · KY0370137 | 1,590 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 409 people were held in Franklin County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 222.
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 $99.9 million — $92.2 million to run schools, about $15,057 per student, plus $5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $40.5 million local (mostly property tax), $49.4 million state, $14.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $76.7 million.
Spent $14.6 million — $13.9 million to run schools, about $14,347 per student, plus $228,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.5 million local (mostly property tax), $8 million state, $2.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $10.9 million.
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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Franklin County about $25.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
117 bridges in Franklin County: 15 in good condition, 89 fair, and 13 poor (11.1%). “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.
| I-64 WB over KENTUCKY RIVER & KY 1659 · built 1963 | 25,984 vehicles a day |
| I-64 EB over KENTUCKY RIVER & KY 1659 · built 1963 | 25,984 vehicles a day |
| US 60X over KENTUCKY RIVER · built 1894 | 3,392 vehicles a day |
| KY 1689 over N ELKHORN CREEK · built 1955 | 1,672 vehicles a day |
| KY 1689 over TRIB TO N ELKHORN CREEK · built 1967 | 708 vehicles a day |
| KY 1665 over S BENSON CREEK · built 1966 | 558 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $1.2 billion of work in Franklin County in fiscal 2025, about $23,120 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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Woodford County (15 mi) · Scott County (16 mi) · Anderson County (17 mi) · Owen County (18 mi) · Shelby County (19 mi) · Henry County (20 mi).