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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-SALEM-MA · Salem, MA 44,241 pop · income 67th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Salem
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Salem on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Wilkes-Barre · lowest
47,970
Wilkes-Barre · lowest
47,970 median HH income
33.9% of the leader · rank #1
Salem · this city
85,137
Salem · this city
85,137 median HH income
60.2% of the leader · rank #2
Irmo · near
85,137
Irmo · near
85,137 median HH income
60.2% of the leader · rank #3
East Prospect · near
85,139
East Prospect · near
85,139 median HH income
60.2% of the leader · rank #4
Gideon · near
85,147
Gideon · near
85,147 median HH income
60.2% of the leader · rank #5
Fort Chiswell · near
85,147
Fort Chiswell · near
85,147 median HH income
60.2% of the leader · rank #6
Arlington · highest
141,440
Arlington · highest
141,440 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Salem on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 44,241.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Salem - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Salem lands in the 67th percentile for household income and the 40th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
67th
percentile, household income
85th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
40th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Salem, MA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 44,241 residents in Salem, a small city within Massachusetts. Salem households earn a median of $85,137 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.6%. Salem's housing stock carries a median value of $497,400, and the median resident age is 38.5 years. Educational attainment runs 49.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 67.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 35 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 79% from five years earlier. Salem reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1706.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Massachusetts carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Massachusetts scores 105.8 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,261 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Massachusetts's average monthly utility costs around $330 (state average). Commute times here average 24.1 minutes, with 57.6% driving alone and 19.4% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 78.8 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Salem's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to population change to reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Salem, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Salem?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 12 public schools within the city match. 49.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,706 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 35 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Salem?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1706.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 25% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Which cities make useful reference points for Salem?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Leominster (43,697 residents, $81,556 income); Pittsfield (43,559 residents, $68,386 income); Arlington (46,015 residents, $141,440 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Concord, NH (44,219 residents); Wilkes-Barre, PA (44,217 residents); North Fort Myers, FL (44,189 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Salem?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 57.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.1 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
57.6%
Work from home
19.4%
Public transit
6.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 25,287 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Salem?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.8×
Home value
$497,400
Household income
$85,137
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 11.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Massachusetts average
C-
City profile score · Salem, MA
50/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share A-
49.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C+
$85,137
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime C
152 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
11.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
105.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Salem profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 49.6%
Household income: 64/100 (C+) · $85,137
Violent crime: 58/100 (C) · 152 /100k
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.6%
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Salem sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Salem's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Salem highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Salem, MA (this city): home $497,400, crime 1,706/100k
Concord, NH : home $323,700, crime 1,410/100k
Wilkes-Barre, PA : home $108,000, crime 1,989/100k
El Centro, CA : home $291,100, crime 1,596/100k
Oakley, CA : home $632,800, crime 1,113/100k
Leominster, MA : home $345,000, crime 1,799/100k
Pittsfield, MA : home $233,700, crime 1,751/100k
Arlington, MA : home $885,000, crime 490/100k
Beverly, MA : home $621,900, crime 579/100k
Attleboro, MA : home $409,100, crime 1,347/100k
Fitchburg, MA : home $295,500, crime 1,831/100k
How does Salem compare to other US cities?
Where Salem sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income67% higher than other cities
Home value85% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety40% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Massachusetts and the picture shifts: Salem ranks #125 of 149 Massachusetts cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Salem against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Massachusetts only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Massachusetts-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Salem near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Salem ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Salem only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#150 of 233
36th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#119 of 240
50th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#30 of 247
87th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#99 of 247
60th percentile in Massachusetts
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Massachusetts only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
67th percentile nationally for median household income · 40th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Salem's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Salem's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Salem's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$497,40015th percentilemore affordable than 15% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Salem's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,964 of 15,516
More affordable than 10% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,930 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.8×, Salem sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,964 of 15,516 and #2,930 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$85,137Salem, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Salem, MA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Salem, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)49.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
44,241
Median Income
$85,137
Median Home Value
$497,400
Median Age
38.5
Poverty Rate
11.6%
Labor force participation
67.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
49.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1706.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
152.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1553.7
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
12
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Salem's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
43,675 residents
2021
44,605 residents
2022
44,648 residents
2023
45,427 residents
2024
45,417 residents
2025
45,381 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
35
housing units authorized
Single-Family
11
detached homes
Multifamily
24
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
163
42
121
$27.5M
2020
283
32
251
$56.5M
2021
77
7
70
$20.8M
2022
75
6
69
$16.7M
2023
15
10
5
$4.3M
2024
35
11
24
$8.8M
Permit volume decreased 79% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.1 minutes
Drive Alone
57.6%
Carpool
5.6%
Public Transit
6.3%
Walk
6.2%
Work from Home
19.4%
Other
4.9%
Based on 25,287 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Massachusetts statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $330
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Massachusetts at $330 (electricity about $160 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Massachusetts statewide averages, not a meter reading for Salem. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Massachusetts's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.8 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Salem is $2,261/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Massachusetts statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Massachusetts statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Salem sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Salem compares to similar-size Massachusetts cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.