Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetOH-SALEM-OH · Salem, OH 11,805 pop · income 20th 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
Salem · this city · lowest
50,250
Salem · this city · lowest
50,250 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #1
Lynn · near
50,250
Lynn · near
50,250 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #2
Apple River · near
50,250
Apple River · near
50,250 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #3
Smithland · near
50,250
Smithland · near
50,250 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #4
Bosworth · near
50,250
Bosworth · near
50,250 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #5
Richfield · highest
135,774
Richfield · highest
135,774 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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: 11,805.
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 20th percentile for household income and the 43rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
20th
percentile, household income
16th
percentile, home value
22nd
percentile, median rent
43rd
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, OH
Ohio's Salem is a small town, with 11,805 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Salem report a median income of $50,250 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.7%. Home values in Salem run a median of $117,400, and the median resident age is 40.6 years. Educational attainment runs 19.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 13 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 225% from five years earlier. Salem reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1595.1 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Ohio run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Ohio scores 92.8 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,092 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $228 across Ohio, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.0 out of 100 (Moderate).
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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist 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, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, 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.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Salem?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 19.8% 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.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -235 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 13 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Salem?
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 1595.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 30% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Salem?
Within Ohio, the closest population matches are Franklin (11,670 residents, $58,134 income); Seven Hills (11,628 residents, $95,313 income); Bucyrus (11,619 residents, $53,169 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hartsville/Trousdale County, TN (11,805 residents); Richfield, WI (11,806 residents); Evanston, WY (11,803 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.
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?
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 81.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
4.1%
Drive alone
81.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 5,938 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Salem?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.7%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$50,250
Home value
$117,400
Value / income
2.3×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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.
Cost of living B+
92.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime D
232 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$50,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Salem profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 75/100 (B+) · 92.8 index
Violent crime: 43/100 (D) · 232 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 19.8%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,250
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.7%
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 8 peers.Read the chart values
Salem, OH (this city): home $117,400, crime 1,595/100k
Evanston, WY : home $236,400, crime 2,022/100k
Vermillion, SD : home $210,200, crime 1,346/100k
Irmo, SC : home $193,100, crime 1,807/100k
Franklin, OH : home $170,800, crime 2,680/100k
Seven Hills, OH : home $239,600, crime 972/100k
Bucyrus, OH : home $122,000, crime 1,488/100k
Norton, OH : home $181,900, crime 1,768/100k
How does Salem compare to other US cities?
Salem measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value16% pricier than other cities
Median rent22% pricier than other cities
Safety43% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Ohio and the picture shifts: Salem ranks #184 of 281 Ohio 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 Ohio only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Ohio-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Salem near the bottom of Ohio's cities
Among the 1,196 Ohio 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
#910 of 1,145
21st percentile in Ohio
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,196
0th percentile in Ohio
Median Home Value
#804 of 1,164
31st percentile in Ohio
Poverty Rate
#147 of 1,196
88th percentile in Ohio
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#541 of 1,196
54th percentile in Ohio
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 Ohio only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
20th percentile nationally for median household income · 43rd 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+)
$117,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 84% 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: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,155 of 15,516
More affordable than 80% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#233 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.3×, Salem sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,155 of 15,516 and #233 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$50,250Salem, OH median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Salem, OH 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, OH.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
11,805
Median Income
$50,250
Median Home Value
$117,400
Median Age
40.6
Poverty Rate
19.7%
Labor force participation
59.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1595.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
231.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1363.5
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
6
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
11,890 residents
2021
11,842 residents
2022
11,735 residents
2023
11,714 residents
2024
11,683 residents
2025
11,655 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
13
housing units authorized
Single-Family
13
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$0.7M
2020
9
5
4
$1.8M
2021
8
2
6
$1.2M
2022
29
8
21
$6.3M
2023
18
6
12
$4.3M
2024
13
13
0
$4.5M
Permit volume increased 225% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.9%
Carpool
6.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
4.1%
Other
5.3%
Based on 5,938 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Ohio statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $228
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Ohio at $228 (electricity about $105 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Ohio 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
Ohio's BEA cost-of-living index is 92.8 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Salem is $1,092/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Ohio statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.0 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Ohio 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 Ohio 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.