Franklin, Maine.
Typical home $293,675 (-4.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$815 (+112%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $12,992 -4%
- $306,666$293,675 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $24,026 +9%
- $269,649$293,675 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Franklin$1,541
- Maine$2,162
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 41 years.
Typical home values in Franklin, ME fell 4.2% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Franklin, Hancock County, Maine
Franklin is a town of 1,567 people in Hancock County. Half its households earn more than $65,455 a year and half less, against $72,744 across Hancock County; 16% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Hancock County was 2.8% in August 2026, and the county had about as many jobs in 2025 as the year before. The most residents work in professional services, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Franklin is a small town in Hancock County, Maine, home to a modest population. Household incomes run below the county's, and a good share of residents live below the poverty line. A four-year degree is held by fewer adults than one might find in many parts of the state. Winters are cold and long, with January the coldest month and highs staying near freezing, while July brings pleasant warmth. Precipitation falls throughout the year as both rain and melted snow, and it is a wet place overall.
Work. Many residents work in professional and business services, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Across Hancock County, some of the largest workplaces are Maine Coast Memorial Hospital, Walmart and Ellsworth Public Schools. Commutes tend to be fairly long, and a noticeable number of people work from home. Joblessness across the county is low and has stayed steady from a year earlier, as has the number of jobs.
Things to do. The Little Bog River and the Skillings River are only a short drive away. Farther afield, Acadia National Park is a longer drive and is among the best known protected landscapes in the country. Lamoine State Park, a protected area, is also a longer drive away, and makes a quieter option for time outdoors.
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- 724households
- 28%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 29 mintypical commute
- 12%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Hancock County had 23,626 jobs in 2025, about as many as the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 30° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 77° and lows near 57°. About 49 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the East Surry weather station, 13 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Hancock County
- Maine Coast Memorial HospitalGeneral hospital405FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters379
- Ellsworth Public SchoolsSchool district312FTE
- Mount Desert Island HospitalCritical access hospital311FTE
- RSU 25 SchoolsSchool district268FTE
- The Talaria CompanyBoat yards241
- RSU 24 SchoolsSchool district213FTE
- HannafordGrocery stores200
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 31 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 3,350 people in all across the county; Franklin has none of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
- Coastal floodingRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Hancock County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Hancock County.
Franklin home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Franklin$293,675
- Maine$412,002
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Franklin11
Zip codes with a Franklin address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Franklin — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.