Franklin County is a county in Massachusetts, United States, in the northwestern corner of the state. It had a population of 71,029 at the 2020 census and covers 724.57 square miles (1,876.6 km2), of which 699 square miles (1,810 km2) is land and 25 square miles (65 km2) is water, centred near 42\u00b035\u2032N 72\u00b035\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Greenfield is the county seat; its postal code is 01301. The county comprises one city and 24 towns \u2014 25 municipalities in all \u2014 following the New England pattern in which the town, not the county, is the primary unit of local government. Franklin County observes Eastern Time.<\/p>\n
Franklin County has 25 incorporated municipalities: one city, Greenfield, and 24 towns. Massachusetts has no county administration and no civil townships, so every town listed below runs its own government directly under the state. The table also lists several long-standing village centers that carry their own ZIP code but no separate municipal government of their own.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenfield<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 17,768<\/td>\n | 01301<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Montague<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 8,580<\/td>\n | 01351<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Orange<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 7,569<\/td>\n | 01364<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Deerfield<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 5,090<\/td>\n | 01342<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sunderland<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 3,663<\/td>\n | 01375<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Northfield<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 2,866<\/td>\n | 01360<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bernardston<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 2,102<\/td>\n | 01337<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Shelburne<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,884<\/td>\n | 01370<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Leverett<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,865<\/td>\n | 01054<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Buckland<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,816<\/td>\n | 01338<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Shutesbury<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,717<\/td>\n | 01072<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Conway<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,761<\/td>\n | 01341<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Whately<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,607<\/td>\n | 01093<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Colrain<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,606<\/td>\n | 01340<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Erving<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,665<\/td>\n | 01344<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Ashfield<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,695<\/td>\n | 01330<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gill<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,551<\/td>\n | 01354<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Charlemont<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 1,185<\/td>\n | 01339<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| New Salem<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 983<\/td>\n | 01355<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wendell<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 924<\/td>\n | 01379<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Leyden<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 734<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Heath<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 723<\/td>\n | 01346<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Warwick<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 780<\/td>\n | 01378<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Rowe<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 424<\/td>\n | 01367<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Hawley<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 353<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Monroe<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 118<\/td>\n | 01350<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Turners Falls<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 01376<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| South Deerfield<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 01373<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Shelburne Falls<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 01370<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Millers Falls<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 01349<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lake Pleasant<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 01347<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wendell Depot<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 01380<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Turners Falls, Millers Falls, and Lake Pleasant are all village centers inside Montague; Millers Falls also spills into neighboring Erving. Shelburne Falls straddles the Shelburne\/Buckland line, and Monroe’s own post office sits in the Monroe Bridge village. New Salem is the largest town by land area in the county, though it is far from the most populous.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nHawley and Leyden have no dedicated ZIP code of their own; mail there is generally handled through the neighboring Charlemont and Bernardston offices.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nFranklin County sits in the Pioneer Valley and the foothills of the Berkshires, split by the Connecticut River, which flows south through Deerfield, Montague, Greenfield, and Northfield. The Deerfield River and Millers River are the county’s other major waterways, and the Quabbin Reservoir watershed reaches into the county’s southeastern towns. The Mohawk Trail (Route 2) climbs west through the Hoosac Range toward the Berkshires, and much of the county’s western half is forested hill country.<\/p>\n Franklin County borders Windham County, Vermont, and Cheshire County, New Hampshire, to the north; Worcester County<\/a> to the east; Hampshire County<\/a> to the south; and Berkshire County<\/a> to the west.<\/p>\n Franklin County had 71,029 residents at the 2020 census, making it the least populous county on the Massachusetts mainland. Greenfield (17,768) and Montague (8,580) are the two largest municipalities; more than half the county’s towns have fewer than 2,000 residents. Household income here trails the Massachusetts median of $99,858, reflecting a rural, older population base concentrated in the county’s hill towns. Population density is about 102 people per square mile of land, well below the state average.<\/p>\n Health care and education anchor the county’s economy: Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield is one of the area’s largest employers, and Greenfield Community College serves the region. Agriculture remains a visible part of local life, with dairy farms, orchards, and market gardens across the Deerfield and Connecticut River valleys. Tourism draws on the Mohawk Trail scenic byway and the Bridge of Flowers, a decommissioned trolley bridge in Shelburne Falls replanted as a public garden. South Deerfield is home to the original Yankee Candle store and factory outlet, a long-running regional attraction.<\/p>\n Franklin County was organized on June 24, 1811, from towns split off Hampshire County, and named for Benjamin Franklin. Its oldest town, Deerfield, was the site of the 1704 raid during Queen Anne’s War, one of the most-studied events in colonial New England history, well over a century before the county itself existed. Like several other Massachusetts counties, Franklin’s county government was abolished by the state in the late 1990s; county functions today are handled by the towns themselves and by state and regional agencies, which is why the county has no county seat government building in the conventional sense.<\/p>\n Interstate 91 runs north-south through the county via Deerfield, Greenfield, and Northfield, and Route 2 (the Mohawk Trail) crosses it east-west. Greenfield has an Amtrak station on the Vermonter line, with service toward Springfield and St. Albans, Vermont.<\/p>\n The nearest commercial airport is Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, roughly 55 miles south.<\/p>\n Where is Franklin County, Massachusetts?<\/strong> What is the population of Franklin County?<\/strong> How big is Franklin County?<\/strong> What is the county seat of Franklin County?<\/strong> How many towns are in Franklin County?<\/strong> What ZIP codes are in Franklin County?<\/strong> |