Franklin County

Franklin County is the home of Kentucky’s capital, Frankfort.

Nearly half of the area residents are employed by state or local government. The county is located in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky, with Frankfort at its center.

Franklin County came into existence when its official charter was issued on May 10, 1795, by an act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The county was created from parts of Mercer, Shelby and Woodford counties and named for Benjamin Franklin, American patriot, inventor, diplomat and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Major local industries include:

  • Manufacturers of automotive wheels, parts, wire products and air brake components
  • Pipes and oil valves for the heating industry
  • Tool and die businesses
  • Manufacturers of pallets, wood furniture and fabrics
  • Some of the area’s best known businesses — bourbon distilleries. In 2016, 6.7 million barrels of bourbon were stored statewide, a level not seen since 1974, according to the State Journal. The value of distilled spirits that Franklin County’s Buffalo Trace and Jim Beam distilleries store locally has risen to $247 million, a 21% increase from 2015 and a 57% percent increase from 2011.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau:

  • Franklin County has a population of 50,560 as of 2016, up 2.6% from 2010.
  • That puts it in about the top 20% of Kentucky’s counties by population.
  • Those under 18 years of age are 21% of the population, while those 65 and older are 16.7% of the population.
  • White residents make up 84.2% of the population, followed by African Americans at 11.1%; 3.1% are Latino and Asians make up 2%.
  • 8% of the population graduated high school and 27% have at least a bachelor’s degree.
  • 61% of the local population is of working age, and the median household income is $47,964; 13.7% of local residents live at or below the poverty level. Nationwide the median income is $56,516 and 14.5% of the country live in poverty.
  • There were 1,189 employers in the area in 2014, with a total of 4,085 businesses in the county in 2012.
  • As of February 2017, the county’s unemployment rate was 4.5%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, slightly less than the national average.

There were about 50,000 undocumented immigrants in Kentucky as of 2014, according to estimates by the Pew Research Foundation, making up about 1.1% of the commonwealth’s total population, 1.7% of its workforce and about 30% of the total immigrant population. The foundation also estimated that about half of the undocumented population is from Mexico.

Franklin County has about 1% of Kentucky’s population; how many undocumented immigrants live in the area is unknown, but the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the state as a whole is about the same as the total population of the county.

If you live in Franklin County, Kentucky, and have questions about immigration law or need the help of an attorney in an immigration matter, contact our office so we can discuss the legal process, the applicable laws and how we can help.