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Place dossier plate
SheetMD-SALISBURY-MD · Salisbury, MD 33,080 pop · income 29th pct · 21 tracts
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 Salisbury
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Salisbury on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Schenectady · lowest
56,398
Schenectady · lowest
56,398 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #1
Salisbury · this city
56,402
Salisbury · this city
56,402 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #2
Douglas · near
56,406
Douglas · near
56,406 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #3
Lost Bridge · near
56,406
Lost Bridge · near
56,406 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #4
Edinburgh · near
56,406
Edinburgh · near
56,406 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #5
Clemons · near
56,406
Clemons · near
56,406 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #6
Franklin · highest
142,788
Franklin · highest
142,788 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 Salisbury 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: 33,080.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Salisbury - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Salisbury places in the 29th percentile for household income and the 8th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
29th
percentile, household income
48th
percentile, home value
84th
percentile, median rent
8th
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: Salisbury, MD
Maryland's Salisbury is a small city, with 33,080 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Salisbury report a median income of $56,402 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.8%. Typical homes in Salisbury are valued around $217,500, and the median resident age is 29.9 years. About 28.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 103 residential building permits were authorized in Salisbury (Rapid Growth), up 43% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Salisbury's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3960.2 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 58.7°F with 48.0 inches of precipitation per year.
Maryland carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Maryland at 105.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,657 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $255 across Maryland, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 20.5 minutes, with 75.2% driving alone and 4.8% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 60.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Salisbury'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 climate and hazard context to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to within-city variation to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Salisbury, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Salisbury?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 58.7°F, with 48.0 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Maryland is 60.2 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
How far does income reach against housing in Salisbury?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Which cities make useful reference points for Salisbury?
Within Maryland, the closest population matches are Pasadena (32,717 residents, $119,393 income); Montgomery (34,161 residents, $96,487 income); Milford Mill (31,939 residents, $76,676 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Dover, NH (33,070 residents); Bethel Park, PA (33,070 residents); Franklin, MA (33,067 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.
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.
What can 21 Census tracts reveal inside Salisbury?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 21 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Population change
Is Salisbury growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +881 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 103 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+2.7%
2025 estimate
33,845
2020 estimate
32,964
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Salisbury?
The NCES join finds 15 public schools within the city match. 28.3% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
15
Bachelor's degree+
28.3%
Poverty estimate
14.8%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Salisbury?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3960.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 74% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
3005.6
Violent rate
954.7
Total reported rate
3960.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Salisbury?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 20.5 minutes.
Public transit
1.0%
Work from home
4.8%
Drive alone
75.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 15,023 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 14.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maryland average
F
City profile score · Salisbury, MD
24/100
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 C
28.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$56,402
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
105.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime F
955 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Salisbury profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.3%
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,402
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.8%
Cost of living: 21/100 (F) · 105.0 index
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 955 /100k
Where Salisbury sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Salisbury'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 - Salisbury highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Salisbury, MD (this city): home $217,500, crime 3,960/100k
Dover, NH : home $398,500, crime 834/100k
Bethel Park, PA : home $258,700, crime 690/100k
Franklin, MA : home $567,100, crime 383/100k
Helena, MT : home $355,100, crime 3,096/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Salisbury compare to other US cities?
Here's how Salisbury stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income29% higher than other cities
Home value48% pricier than other cities
Median rent84% pricier than other cities
Safety8% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Maryland alone, Salisbury ranks #56 of 70 Maryland cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Salisbury against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Maryland only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Maryland-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Salisbury near the bottom of Maryland's cities
Among the 479 Maryland cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Salisbury ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Salisbury only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#399 of 445
10th percentile in Maryland
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 479
0th percentile in Maryland
Median Home Value
#384 of 450
15th percentile in Maryland
Poverty Rate
#64 of 479
86th percentile in Maryland
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#285 of 479
41st percentile in Maryland
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 Maryland only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
29th percentile nationally for median household income · 8th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Salisbury's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Salisbury'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 Salisbury's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$217,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 52% 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
Salisbury's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,240 of 15,516
More affordable than 34% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,840 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.9×, Salisbury sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,240 of 15,516 and #1,840 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$56,402Salisbury, MD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Salisbury, MD median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Salisbury, MD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
33,080
Median Income
$56,402
Median Home Value
$217,500
Median Age
29.9
Poverty Rate
14.8%
Labor force participation
58.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3960.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
954.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3005.6
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
58.7°F
Annual Precipitation
48.0"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
15
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Salisbury's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
32,964 residents
2021
33,115 residents
2022
33,346 residents
2023
33,525 residents
2024
33,748 residents
2025
33,845 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
103
housing units authorized
Single-Family
59
detached homes
Multifamily
44
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
72
32
40
$9.3M
2020
92
43
49
$15.7M
2021
27
27
0
$4.0M
2022
95
35
60
$16.7M
2023
78
59
19
$12.9M
2024
103
59
44
$17.5M
Permit volume increased 43% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
20.5 minutes
Drive Alone
75.2%
Carpool
13.0%
Public Transit
1.0%
Walk
3.8%
Work from Home
4.8%
Other
2.2%
Based on 15,023 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Maryland statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $255
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Maryland at $255 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Maryland statewide averages, not a meter reading for Salisbury. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Maryland's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.0 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Salisbury is $1,657/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Maryland statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 60.2 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Maryland statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Salisbury sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Salisbury compares to similar-size Maryland 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.