# Franklin County, Massachusetts: Power, Data Centers and the Local Economy Home to Greenfield, Montague and Orange Franklin County is a power-producing county: the plants here serve load well beyond its borders. Franklin County is home to Greenfield, Montague, Orange and Deerfield. Next door, Worcester County has 8 data centers and 205 MW of planned generation. Its power plants have 1,334 MW of capacity, 94% of it hydro, the 5th largest fleet in Massachusetts. Unemployment was 4.1% in August 2026, against 3.0% in 2019. Employers here counted 25,008 jobs in 2025, down 6.8% from 2019. 1,334 MW of operating power plants, mostly hydro -6.8% total jobs since 2019, now 25,008 29.91¢ per kWh for NSTAR Electric Company residential customers, 2024 ## Cities and towns in Franklin County Franklin County is home to Greenfield, Montague, Orange and Deerfield. Greenfield17,691 residents Montague8,377 residents Orange7,569 residents Deerfield5,147 residents Sunderland3,607 residents Northfield2,857 residents Bernardston2,108 residents Shelburne1,868 residents Leverett1,850 residents Buckland1,812 residents Conway1,750 residents Shutesbury1,705 residents Ashfield1,680 residents Colrain1,654 residents Erving1,651 residents Whately1,622 residents Gill1,551 residents Charlemont1,163 residents New Salem1,028 residents Wendell911 residents Warwick769 residents Leyden725 residents Heath721 residents Rowe417 residents And 2 smaller places. Unincorporated communities (governed by the county): Deerfield, Millers Falls, Northfield, Orange, Shelburne Falls, South Deerfield, Turners Falls. Residents are 2025 Census estimates for the part of each city, town or township inside this county. Census publishes no annual estimate for unincorporated communities. ## What changed in Franklin County | Measure | Then | Now | Change | Rank in Massachusetts | |---|---|---|---|---| | Population (2020 → 2025) | 70,938 | 70,698 | ▼ 0.3% | 12th of 14 by size | | Total jobs (2019 → 2025) | 26,837 | 25,008 | ▼ 6.8% | 14th of 14 by growth | | Average annual pay (2019 → 2025) | $43,706 | $56,610 | ▲ 29.5% | — | | Unemployment rate (2019 → August 2026) | 3.0% | 4.1% | ▲ 1.1pts | — | | Generating capacity added since 2019 | — | 36 MW | | — | | Generating capacity retired since 2019 | — | 0 MW | | — | 36 MW of that came online in 2019 or later, mostly solar. NSTAR Electric Company is the largest utility serving Franklin County, one of 2 with territory here. Its residential customers paid an average 29.91¢/kWh in 2024, above the 16.18¢ median for Massachusetts utilities. 70,698 people live here, down 0.3% since 2020. ## Who powers Franklin County ### Utilities with service territory in Franklin County | Utility | Ownership | Service | Residential customers (systemwide) | Residential price, 2024 | Commercial share of sales | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | NSTAR Electric Company | Investor Owned | Bundled | 1,303,076 | 29.91¢ | 27% | | Massachusetts Electric Co | Investor Owned | Bundled | 1,210,113 | 33.60¢ | 24% | Customer counts, prices and sales shares cover each utility's whole system in the state, not only this county. Commercial sales include data centers. ### Operating power plants | Technology | Capacity | Share | |---|---|---| | Hydro | 1,261 MW | 94% | | Solar | 61 MW | 5% | | Natural gas | 6 MW | 0% | | Battery storage | 6 MW | 0% | | Largest plants | Owner | Technology | MW | Since | |---|---|---|---|---| | Northfield Mountain | FirstLight Power Resources, Inc. - MA | Hydro | 1,168 MW | 1972 | | Cabot | FirstLight Power Resources, Inc. - MA | Hydro | 62 MW | 1915 | | Sherman | Great River Hydro, LLC | Hydro | 7 MW | 1926 | | Erving Paper Mills | Erving Paper Mills Inc | Natural gas | 6 MW | 2013 | | Turners Falls | FirstLight Power Resources, Inc. - MA | Hydro | 6 MW | 1905 | | Wilbur Woods Solar LLC | AES Distributed Energy | Solar | 5 MW | 2021 | ## The Franklin County labor market | Industry (2025) | Jobs | Average pay | Concentration vs U.S. | |---|---|---|---| | All industries | 25,008 | $56,610 | 1.00 | Concentration is the BLS location quotient: 1.0 means the industry holds the same share of local jobs as it does nationally. Industry rows count private employers; cells BLS suppresses are left out. ## Data centers and local rules in Franklin County No data center, local measure or delayed project is on record in Franklin County. Massachusetts has 17 local measures on record statewide. ## Franklin County and its neighbors Of the 6 counties that border Franklin County, Worcester County carries the most build-out activity: data centers, planned generation and operating plants combined. [[[[[[ | County | Population | Jobs since 2019 | Operating MW | Planned MW | Data centers | Local measures | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Franklin County | 70,698 | ▼ 6.8% | 1,334 MW | — | — | — | | Bennington County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/vermont/bennington-county) VT | 36,630 | ▼ 4.3% | 44 MW | 22 MW | — | — | | Berkshire County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/massachusetts/berkshire-county) | 128,224 | ▼ 5.4% | 1,024 MW | — | — | — | | Cheshire County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-hampshire/cheshire-county) NH | 78,269 | ▼ 3.1% | — | — | 2 | — | | Hampshire County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/massachusetts/hampshire-county) | 164,065 | ▼ 2.3% | 160 MW | — | — | — | | Windham County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/vermont/windham-county) VT | 45,204 | ▼ 2.3% | 122 MW | — | 1 | — | | Worcester County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/massachusetts/worcester-county) | 888,502 | ▲ 0.9% | 1,956 MW | 205 MW | 8 | — | ## More of Massachusetts [All Massachusetts countiesThe state power page and county mapOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/massachusetts)[Worcester County888,502 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/massachusetts/worcester-county)[Hampshire County164,065 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/massachusetts/hampshire-county)[Berkshire County128,224 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/massachusetts/berkshire-county) ## Franklin County, answered from the record ### Who provides electricity in Franklin County, Massachusetts? 2 utilities have service territory in Franklin County in the EIA-861 2024 report: NSTAR Electric Company, Massachusetts Electric Co. The largest, NSTAR Electric Company, charged residential customers 29.91¢/kWh on average in 2024. ### What county is Greenfield, MA in? Greenfield is in Franklin County, Massachusetts. About 17,691 people live there (2025 Census estimate). ### What power plants are in Franklin County? 33 operating plants with 1,334 MW of capacity. The largest is Northfield Mountain (1,168 MW, hydro). ### Are there data centers in Franklin County? The SAVRN Data Center Map has no data center in Franklin County. The nearest activity on record is next door in Worcester County. ### Is Franklin County adding jobs? Employers counted 25,008 jobs in 2025 against 26,837 in 2019 (-6.8%, BLS QCEW). ### Does Franklin County have a data center moratorium? No county-level measure is on record for Franklin County. Massachusetts has 17 local measures statewide, listed on the state page. --- Canonical: https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/massachusetts/franklin-county Updated: 2026-10-08. Refreshed weekly by SAVRN from EIA, BLS, BEA, Census and the SAVRN trackers. License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).