Franklin, WI

Franklin began as a piece of a larger town. Per Wikipedia's city entry, the southern part of the Town of Kinnickinnic was split off on December 20, 1839 to form the Town of Franklin, named for Benjamin Franklin. It covered 36 square miles, much of it in hardwood timber such as hickory, walnut and butternut, drained by the Root River. The 1840 census counted 248 people.

For a century it stayed rural. By the 1950s, Wikipedia notes, Franklin was known as a "City of Homes" for its growing residential areas. The town incorporated as a fourth-class city on August 15, 1956, which is the reason Franklin is its own city today, with its own schools and its own tax rate.

Pieces of the older Franklin survive. The city's zoning code keeps a Village Residence district and a St. Martins Road Historic Business District to protect the St. Martins Historic Village Area, the crossroads hamlet in the south of the city. Wikipedia notes that St. Martins Junction once served two interurban lines, one south to Burlington and one west to East Troy.

The modern city grew in waves. The ACS shows only about 1,451 homes standing from the 1950s and 897 from the 1960s, then a steady climb: 2,036 from the 1970s, 2,205 from the 1980s, 3,005 from the 1990s and 2,858 from the 2000s. That is why Franklin feels newer than the inner suburbs north of it.

Franklin is big. Wikipedia puts it at 34.69 square miles, about six times the size of neighboring Greendale. Oak Creek is to the east, Greendale, Hales Corners and Greenfield are to the north, Racine County is to the south and Waukesha County to the west. The Root River runs south through the city and splits it roughly in half. Highways 36 (Loomis Road), 100 and 241 and U.S. 45 cross it, and Interstate 94 is just east.

Here is the plain statement for anyone arriving from a search about Wisconsin lake homes. Franklin is not a lake market. It has 0.11 square miles of water in all, mostly ponds and the river.

The housing is mostly owner-occupied single-family. The 2020-2024 Census ACS counts 35,886 residents and 14,540 housing units. Of the 14,138 occupied homes, 10,923, about 77%, are owner-occupied. Single-family detached houses account for 8,970 units, about 62% of the total, and attached single-family homes another 1,098. Buildings of five or more units add about 3,700 units, much of it newer apartments near Ballpark Commons and the 76th Street corridor.

The ACS puts the median year built at 1990, among the newest in Milwaukee County. About 30% of all homes, 4,368 units, were built in 2000 or later.

The city has no recreational lake, its commercial life runs along arterial roads, and only about 0.9% of owner homes are valued at $1 million or more. Three school districts mean three tax rates and three sets of schools.

Franklin reads best from north to south. The north side, closest to Greendale, Hales Corners and the Rawson Avenue corridor, filled in first and holds most of the shopping and the newer mixed-use projects. The middle of the city, on both sides of the Root River, holds the subdivisions of the 1980s through the 2000s. The south, toward the Racine County line, is where the city's zoning keeps lots large and the landscape rural.

Two maps sort a Franklin address faster than any subdivision name. The first is the school district. Most of the city is in the Franklin Public School District, but Wikipedia notes that the Oak Creek-Franklin district serves the far eastern side along 27th Street and the Whitnall district serves the far northwest side. Each carries a different tax rate, covered below.

The second is the zoning map from the city's Unified Development Ordinance, approved May 6, 2025 and in effect since June 9, 2025, the first full rewrite since 1998. It sets five residential districts. R-C, Countryside Residence, is for single-family homes on large lots in the southern areas of the city. R-SE, Suburban/Estate, is semi-rural single-family. R-SR, Suburban Residence, covers most conventional subdivisions. R-MF is for townhomes and apartments, and R-V protects the St. Martins historic village.

The east side along 27th Street is different again: older commercial frontage, the Oak Creek-Franklin school district, and close proximity to I-94 and Oak Creek. The northeast corner holds the city's active quarry, which I cover separately, and buyers near it should read that section first.

Franklin is the one city in Milwaukee County where a buyer can still find acreage zoning, and the June 2025 code spells out exactly how much. The UDO text sets the minimum lot in the R-C Countryside district at 40,000 square feet, a little under an acre, with 150 feet of width, a 60-foot front setback and no more than 20% of the lot covered by hard surfaces. R-SE requires 18,000 square feet and 90 feet of width, and R-SR 10,000 square feet and 80 feet. The code describes R-C as intended to preserve open space and the rural residential setting in the southern areas of the city.

Sewer is the real constraint on land. The code says any new lot in the residential districts must be served by public sewer and water, with one main exception: in R-C, lots of at least 5 acres may be created without them, plus at most one lot of at least 3 acres in a land division. The code's own example is an 18-acre parent parcel divided into up to four lots. The city's comprehensive plan carries a separate policy for the southwestern portion of the city before sewer service arrives.

The code also allows the kind of outbuildings estate buyers ask about. Detached accessory buildings are normally capped at 1,200 square feet, but on parcels of at least 3 acres in the R-C, R-SE and agricultural districts they can be larger with a conditional use permit, at up to 500 square feet per acre and no more than 5,000 square feet.

The price picture at the top is modest by North Shore standards. The 2020-2024 ACS counts 102 owner-occupied homes valued at $1 million or more, about 0.9% of the total, and 470 at $750,000 or more, about 4.3%. None were valued at $2 million or more. Zillow's top-tier value for the city, the typical value of the most expensive third of homes, was $596,559 in August 2026.

Public reports confirm a thin seven-figure market. On November 17, 2025, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel listed a $1.4 million Franklin home among Milwaukee County's most expensive recent sales. In June 2026, the Milwaukee Business Journal highlighted a $1.7 million Franklin listing with a wraparound balcony and marble finishes; that was an asking price, and I don't know whether or for what it sold. If you are shopping above $2 million, Franklin will offer very few choices.

Franklin is a steady upper-middle market for Milwaukee County. Zillow's home value index put the city's typical home value at $443,183 in August 2026, up 3.8% from $426,893 in August 2025. The top-tier value was $596,559, up 3.1%. The 53132 ZIP code, which covers the city, came in at $446,839, with a top-tier value of $598,820.

For context, Zillow's August 2026 typical value was $414,503 in Oak Creek, $410,672 in Hales Corners, $390,550 in Greendale, $455,414 in New Berlin and $530,269 in Muskego. Franklin is the highest-priced of the southwest Milwaukee County suburbs and sits just below the Waukesha County cities across the line.

The Census figures run lower because they lag and because they are owners' own estimates. The 2020-2024 ACS puts the median value of owner-occupied homes at $364,200 and median gross rent at $1,458 a month. The largest value band is $300,000 to $400,000, with 3,223 homes, followed by 2,180 at $400,000 to $500,000 and 1,658 at $500,000 to $750,000. About 19.5% of owner homes were valued at $500,000 or more, and 1,083 under $200,000, a group that includes condominiums.

The state's 2025 equalized value for all taxable property in the city was $7,245,524,200, and the DOR counts five tax incremental financing districts with value in them.

The two sources tell the same story from different angles. Zillow's index tracks all homes month by month; the ACS is a five-year survey of owners' estimates. Both put most Franklin homes between $300,000 and $600,000, with a thin layer above that.

I'm not using MLS statistics on this page. Wisconsin sold data comes through a different MLS than the Illinois one I work in. For a specific house, recent sales in the same subdivision and school district are the numbers worth using.

Coming from Lake County, Illinois, the tax bill is the first thing people compare, and Franklin publishes its numbers more clearly than most. Wisconsin bills are built from a mill rate, the dollars of tax per $1,000 of assessed value. The city's 2025 tax facts sheet gives the total 2025 rates after state credits by school district: $16.674 per $1,000 of assessed value in the Franklin Public School District, $15.663 in the Oak Creek-Franklin district and $16.125 in the Whitnall district. Those were up 2.7%, 6.6% and 9.2% from 2024.

The same sheet breaks the Franklin district rate into parts: $8.674 for the school district, minus a $1.616 state school levy credit, plus $3.483 for Milwaukee County, $3.920 for the city, $1.367 for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and $0.846 for the technical college. The city's share is roughly a quarter of the bill.

Assessed value is not market value. The Wisconsin DOR's 2025 report puts Franklin's assessment level at 91%, so a home worth $500,000 on the market would be assessed at about $455,000. By the DOR's school district figures, the Franklin district holds about 77% of the city's taxable value, Oak Creek-Franklin about 17% and Whitnall about 6%.

Here is a worked example. A $500,000 Franklin home in the Franklin Public School District would carry about $7,590 in 2025 taxes by my arithmetic: $455,000 assessed times $16.674 per $1,000. The same home would be about $7,130 in the Oak Creek-Franklin area and $7,340 in the Whitnall area. For comparison, Ownwell's data for Vernon Hills (updated April 2026) shows a median effective rate of 2.75%, which on the same $500,000 would be about $13,750.

School referendums are part of the rate. The city's sheet lists a $145 million Franklin high school referendum running from 2024 to 2045 and a $43.3 million middle school referendum from 2016 to 2036, two Oak Creek-Franklin referendums ($60.9 million from 2018 and $34.3 million from 2024) and a $79.1 million Whitnall referendum from 2024. The solid waste charge was $159.60 in 2025.

Bills are due in full by January 31 or in installments of 50% on January 31 and 25% each on March 31 and May 31, per the city's tax page. The lottery and gaming credit applies only to a Wisconsin resident's primary residence (see the DOR's explanation). When you sell, Wisconsin charges a real estate transfer fee of $0.30 per $100 of value, or $1,500 on a $500,000 sale.

This is general information, not tax advice. Your actual bill depends on the parcel, the assessment, the school district and the credits you qualify for.

Three public school districts serve Franklin, per the city's tax page: Franklin Public Schools, the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District and the Whitnall School District. Wikipedia notes that the Franklin district was formed in 1962 as a K-12 district and runs the city's recreation department, that Oak Creek-Franklin serves the far eastern side along 27th Street, and that Whitnall serves the far northwest side.

My Hales Corners guide covers it in more detail.

For Illinois buyers, the practical rule is the same as at home: the district on the tax bill decides the school, and in Franklin it also changes the tax rate. Confirm both with the district before you write an offer.

Ballpark Commons is Franklin's biggest single development of the past decade, and it reshaped the north side of the city. It grew out of The Rock Sports Complex. In May 2018, BizTimes reported that developer Mike Zimmerman of ROC Ventures had turned the former Crystal Ridge Ski Hill, at the northwest corner of Loomis Road and 76th Street, into The Rock, with a ski hill, baseball fields, mountain bike trails and a BMX track. BizTimes then described Ballpark Commons as a $130 million project with a ballpark, an indoor sports facility, Luxe Golf Bays with 57 heated bays, offices, retail and apartments. The first four apartment buildings were approved with 308 units.

By October 2022, BizTimes reported that the area included Franklin Field, a 4,000-seat ballpark where the Milwaukee Milkmen and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee play, along with The Rock, Luxe Golf Bays and apartments. The Census geocoder places The Rock inside Franklin.

The same 2022 report described the next wave, still conceptual then: The Public Square, about 25 acres at the Orchard View Shopping Center southeast of 76th Street and Rawson Avenue, with a boutique hotel, an ice rink and about 520 apartments; The Retreat, about 432 apartments and some retail on 52 acres of farmland at 8301 W. Loomis Road; and a 78-unit building on Ballpark Drive.

The mix keeps changing. In July 2026, the Journal Sentinel reported that a restaurant at Ballpark Commons closed on July 10, with a new "entertainment experience" teased for the space.

For a buyer, Ballpark Commons cuts both ways. It puts baseball, golf, restaurants and winter sports a short drive from most of Franklin. Homes closest to 76th Street, Rawson Avenue and Loomis Road will also see game-day traffic, lights and the steady addition of apartments, so drive the area on an evening when there is a game.

Franklin is still growing, and 2026 brought several projects worth knowing about before you buy near open land. I could read only the headlines of some of these reports, so I give what the headlines say and nothing more.

On housing, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported on February 27, 2026 that a 166-home project was pitched near Northwestern Mutual's Franklin campus, and on July 22, 2026 that Franklin signed off on a $51 million housing development near a future Costco.

Near Ballpark Commons, the Business Journal reported on January 7, 2026 that a $83.8 million apartment and retail project tied to the developer Poth's General was advancing under a tax incremental financing deadline. On July 29, 2026, the Journal Sentinel reported that a Franklin resident sued the city over a $15 million TIF district for that project. Treat the outcome as open.

The rules for all of this changed in 2025. The Unified Development Ordinance, in effect since June 9, 2025, sets what can be built in each district. The city's comprehensive master plan, first adopted October 21, 2009, is getting a partial update in 2026, and the city gathered public input at an Arbor Day event on May 2, 2026. The future land use map in that plan is what tells you whether the field behind a house is planned for homes, business or open space.

My advice for any Franklin house that backs onto open land is the same as everywhere: pull the future land use map and the zoning for the parcels around it before you write an offer.

One feature of Franklin deserves its own section because it affects a specific part of the city. The city's quarry monitoring page says Franklin has one active quarry, operating for more than half a century, in the northeastern part of the city. It runs from Rawson Avenue on the north to Drexel Avenue on the south, and from 51st Street on the east to the Root River on the west. It is owned by Payne & Dolan, Inc. and includes two asphalt plants.

The city says the operator blasts about 300 times a year, typically a few times a week, with less activity in winter. Local rules set limits below the state's: for air blasts, a lower limit of 123 decibels that can be exceeded only 15% of the time and an upper limit of 133 decibels; for ground vibration, 0.3 and 0.65 inches per second. The pit cannot come closer than 850 feet to Drexel Avenue, 650 feet to 51st Street and 200 feet to Rawson Avenue and the Root River. The city has a quarry monitoring committee and a complaint form.

For a buyer, the practical step is simple. If you are looking at homes near Rawson, Drexel or 51st Street, visit on a weekday, ask the seller about blasts and dust, and read the city's page.

A second, smaller note: Wikipedia records the Fadrowski Drum Disposal Site, a 40-acre former Superfund site at 6865 S. 27th Street. It was placed on the National Priorities List in 1986, remediated with a landfill cap by 1994 and deleted from the list in 2003. It remains under EPA five-year review, and the site itself can never be used for housing or drinking water. Homes are about 600 to 1,000 feet away.

Most of Franklin is on city water and sewer, but the south and southwest are not uniformly served. The Franklin Water Utility, created July 1, 1977, delivers Lake Michigan water that it buys from the Oak Creek Water and Sewer Utility, which does the treatment. The utility has a 2-million-gallon storage tank, a 500,000-gallon water tower and four ground reservoirs, and its rates are set by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

The rural edge works differently. The city's comprehensive plan includes a separate policy for land use, land division and public services in the southwestern portion of the city before sanitary sewer arrives, and the June 2025 code lets new R-C lots of 5 acres or more go without public sewer and water. For older homes in the south and southwest, assume nothing: ask whether the house is on a private well and septic system, get the well water tested, and have the septic system inspected and pumped records reviewed before closing.

Sewer customers are part of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, which shows up as its own line on the tax bill at $1.367 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2025, per the city's tax facts.

Franklin shares the county's largest park. Whitnall Park straddles the Franklin and Hales Corners line, and the Census geocoder places the Wehr Nature Center, at 9701 W. College Avenue, and the Whitnall Park Golf Course, at 6751 S. 92nd Street, inside Franklin. Boerner Botanical Gardens, in the north end of the park, is in Hales Corners. Wikipedia's Whitnall Park entry puts the park at about 640 acres, with the nature center covering about 220 of them.

The Root River runs south through the middle of the city, and the north side has The Rock's ski hill, bike trails and ballfields as part of Ballpark Commons. For daily errands, the 76th Street and Rawson Avenue area and the 27th Street corridor on the east side carry most of the retail.

Neighboring towns fill in the rest. Greendale's historic village center is a short drive north, Oak Creek's lakefront parks are to the east, and Muskego's lakes are to the west. See the sibling guides for Greendale, Oak Creek and Muskego.

Franklin is the closest of the southwest Milwaukee County suburbs to Illinois. These are free-flow estimates from OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM), computed in October 2026 from central Franklin. Real trips vary with traffic, weather and season.

To Vernon Hills, the route runs about 54 miles and roughly 1 hour 7 minutes. To the Loop in downtown Chicago it is about 80 miles and roughly 1 hour 40 minutes, and O'Hare is about 76 miles, a little over 1 hour 50 minutes by the router. On the Wisconsin side, downtown Milwaukee is about 14 miles and 25 minutes, Milwaukee Mitchell Airport about 10 miles and 19 minutes, and Lake Geneva about 34 miles and 54 minutes.

For the train, Amtrak's Hiawatha to Chicago stops at the Milwaukee Airport station, about 9 miles and 18 minutes away, and at the Sturtevant station in Racine County, about 20 miles and 29 minutes south. Metra's Union Pacific North line ends in Kenosha, about 31 miles and 45 minutes away.

Interstate 94 runs just east of the city, and Loomis Road, Highway 100 and U.S. 45 carry most local traffic. For a buyer who splits time between Milwaukee and northern Illinois, Franklin's position on the south edge of the county shaves time off every southbound trip.

The Franklin Police Department serves the whole city, across all three school district areas. I don't characterize the safety of any area. Anyone who wants the data can contact the department directly or look it up on the FBI Crime Data Explorer.