Franklin County is a
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
in the
U.S. state of
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. As of the
2020 census, the population was 1,323,807,
making it the
most populous county in Ohio. Most of its land area is taken up by its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
,
Columbus,
the
state capital and
most populous city in Ohio. The county was established on April 30, 1803, less than two months after Ohio became a state, and was
named after
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
.
Originally, Franklin County extended north to
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...
before it was subdivided into smaller counties. Franklin County is the central county of the
Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Franklin County, particularly Columbus, has been a centerpiece for presidential and congressional politics, most notably the
2000 presidential election, the
2004 presidential election, and the
2006 midterm elections. Franklin County is home to one of the
largest universities in the United States,
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
, which has about 60,000 students on its main Columbus campus.
It shares a name with
Franklin County in Kentucky, where
Frankfort is located. This makes it one of two pairs of capital cities in counties of the same name, along with Marion Counties in
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
and
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
.
History
On March 30, 1803, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Franklin County. The county originally was part of
Ross County. Residents named the county in honor of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
. In 1816, Franklin County's Columbus became Ohio's state
capital. Surveyors laid out the city in 1812, and officials incorporated it in 1816. Columbus was not Ohio's original capital, but the state legislature chose to move the state government there after its location for a short time at
Chillicothe and at
Zanesville. Columbus was chosen as the site for the new capital because of its central location within the state and access by way of major transportation routes (primarily rivers) at that time. The legislature chose it as Ohio's capital over a number of other competitors, including
Franklinton,
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
,
Worthington, and
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
.
On May 5, 1802, a group of prospective settlers founded the Scioto Company at the home of Rev. Eber B. Clark in
Granby, Connecticut, for the purpose of forming a settlement between the
Muskingum River and
Great Miami River in the
Ohio Country.
James Kilbourne was elected president and Josiah Topping secretary. On August 30, 1802, James Kilbourne and Nathaniel Little arrived at Colonel
Thomas Worthington's home in Chillicothe. They tentatively reserved land along the
Scioto River
The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County, Ohio, Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olent ...
on the
Pickaway Plains for their new settlement.
On October 5, 1802, the Scioto Company met again in Granby and decided not to purchase the lands along the Scioto River on the Pickaway Plains, but rather to buy land farther north from Jonas Stanbery and his partner, an
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
general,
Jonathan Dayton. were purchased along the Whetstone River (now known as the
Olentangy River) at $1.50 per acre. This land was part of the
United States Military District surveyed by
Israel Ludlow in 1797 and divided into townships square.
Before the state legislature's decision in 1812,
Columbus did not exist. The city was originally designed as the state's new capital, preparing itself for its role in Ohio's political, economic, and social life. In the years between the first ground-breaking and the actual movement of the capital in 1816, Columbus and Franklin County grew significantly. By 1813, workers had built a
penitentiary, and by the following year, residents had established the first church, school, and newspaper in Columbus. Workers completed the
Ohio Statehouse in 1861. Columbus and Franklin County grew quickly in population, with the city having 700 people by 1815. Columbus officially became the county seat in 1824. By 1834, the population of Columbus was 4,000 people, officially elevating it to "city" status.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.1%) is water.
The county is located in the Till Plains and the
Appalachian Plateau land regions.
The county is drained by the Olentangy River and the Scioto River. Major creeks in the county include
Big Darby Creek, Big Walnut Creek, and
Alum Creek. There are two large reservoirs in the county,
Hoover Reservoir and
Griggs Reservoir.
Adjacent counties
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Delaware County (north)
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Fairfield County (southeast)
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Licking County (east)
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Madison County (west)
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Pickaway County (south)
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Union County (northwest)
Major highways
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Demographics
2020 census
As of the
2020 census, there were 1,280,122 people, 540,369 households, and 309,654 families residing in the county. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 580,903 housing units. The racial makeup of the county was 60.6%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 22.6%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.3%
Native American, 5.6%
Asian, 0.0%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 3.7% from some other races and 7.0% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.9% of the population. 22.9% of residents were under the age of 18, 6.5% were under 5 years of age, and 13.2% were 65 and older.
2010 census
As of the
2010 census, there were 1,163,414 people, 477,235 households, and 278,030 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 527,186 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 69.2% white, 21.2% black or African American, 3.9% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 2.3% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 24.2% were
German, 14.4% were
Irish, 9.1% were
English, 5.5% were
Italian, and 5.0% were
American.
Of the 477,235 households, 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.0% were married couples living together, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 41.7% were non-families, and 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.05. The median age was 33.4 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $49,087 and the median income for a family was $62,372. Males had a median income of $45,920 versus $37,685 for females. The per capita income for the county was $26,909. About 12.1% of families and 17.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.0% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Top Employers
According to the County's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,
the largest employers in the county are:
Politics
For most of the 20th century, Franklin County shared the heavy Republican bent of the rest of central Ohio, and was one of the more conservative urban counties in the nation. From 1896 to 1992, it went Republican all but five times, the last three of which were national Democratic landslides that saw the Democratic candidate win over 400 electoral votes. However, it has gone Democratic in every election since 1996, reflecting the Democratic trend in most other urban counties nationwide. Columbus and most of its northern and western suburbs lean Democratic, while the more blue-collar southern section of the county leans Republican. From 1996 to 2004, Democratic nominees carried the county by single digit margins, but it swung significantly in favor of
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
in
2008. The county swung towards Democrats in every subsequent presidential election until
2024, when Democratic nominee
Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
won the county with 63.0 percent of the vote and a 28.1 percent margin of victory.
In Congress, it is split between two districts. Most of Columbus itself is in the
3rd district, represented by Democrat
Joyce Beatty. The southwestern portion is in
15th district, represented by Republican
Mike Carey.
Government
Franklin County Officials
Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio State Senate
United States House of Representatives
United States Senate
Communities
Franklin County is currently made up of 16 cities, 10 villages, and 18 townships.
Cities
*
Bexley
*
Canal Winchester
*
Columbus (state capital) (county seat)
*
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
*
Gahanna
*
Grandview Heights
*
Grove City
*
Groveport
*
Hilliard
*
New Albany
*
Obetz
*
Pickerington
*
Reynoldsburg
*
Upper Arlington
*
Westerville
*
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
*
Worthington
Villages
*
Brice
*
Harrisburg
Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...
*
Lithopolis
*
Lockbourne
*
Marble Cliff
*
Minerva Park
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Riverlea
*
Urbancrest
*
Valleyview
Townships
*
Blendon
*
Brown
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Clinton
*
Franklin
*
Hamilton
*
Jackson
*
Jefferson
*
Madison
*
Mifflin
*
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
*
Perry
Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...
*
Plain
In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...
*
Pleasant
*
Prairie
Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
*
Sharon
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Truro
*
Washington
* Montgomery ("paper" township coextensive with the city of Columbus)
* Valleyview ("paper" township coextensive with the village of Valleyview)
Defunct Townships
* Marion (completely annexed by the city of Columbus)
Census-designated places
*
Blacklick Estates
*
Darbydale
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Huber Ridge
*
Lake Darby
*
Lincoln Village
Other unincorporated communities
*
Amlin
*
Blacklick
*
Flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
*
Galloway
Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...
*
Georgesville
*
New Rome
*
Oakland
Education
School districts include:
[ ]
Text list
/ref>
City school districts:
* Bexley City School District
* Columbus City School District
* Dublin City School District
* Gahanna-Jefferson City School District
* Grandview Heights City School District
* Hilliard City School District
* Reynoldsburg City School District
* South-Western City School District
* Upper Arlington City School District
* Westerville City School District
* Whitehall City School District
* Worthington City School District
Local school districts:
* Canal Winchester Local School District
* Groveport Madison Local School District
* Hamilton Local School District
* Jonathan Alder Local School District
* Licking Heights Local School District
* Madison-Plains Local School District
* New Albany-Plain Local School District
* Olentangy Local School District
* Pickerington Local School District
* Teays Valley Local School District
State-operated schools include:
* Ohio State School for the Blind
* Ohio School for the Deaf
See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Franklin County, Ohio
Footnotes
Further reading
* Henry Howe, ''History of Franklin County, Ohio, 1803-1889.'' Knightstown, IN: Bookmark, 1977.
* William T. Martin
''History of Franklin County: A Collection of Reminiscences of the Early Settlement of the County: With Biographical Sketches and a Complete History of the County to the Present Time.''
Columbus, OH: Follett, Forster & Co., 1858.
* Opha Moore, ''History of Franklin County, Ohio.'' In Two Volumes. Topeka: Historical Publishing Company, 1930.
* William Alexander Taylor
''Centennial History of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio.''
Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1909.
''A Centennial Biographical History of the City of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio...''
Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1901.
External links
*
Franklin County history
Provided by Ohio History Central
{{authority control
1803 establishments in Ohio
Ohio counties
Columbus metropolitan area, Ohio
Populated places established in 1803