Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 4.0Salem’s household incomes are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Salem is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (B). The poverty rate is 29.1%, next to 16.0% for Arkansas as a whole. About one in three work in Salem itself; outside it, Mountain Home draws the most (11%, 31 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Salem: the gist
Salem is where the jobs are
Salem has 1,076 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Salem’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Salem is Mountain Home, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (56) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 495 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Salem’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Salem is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Salem’s grade.
Unemployment (4.4%) is left out: Salem’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Salem could be anywhere from D− to D.
Salem fills up on a workday
On a workday 323 residents head out to work, 172 work right here, and 904 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Salem on a workday afternoon, 36% more than live here.
2.2 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Short hops and long hauls from Salem
About 28% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The daily trip into Salem
Where Salem clocks in
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Inside Salem’s 1,076 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salem, 2013 → 2023: 1,092 → 1,076. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Salem’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Salem spends getting to work: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salem workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 493 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Arkansas: 87% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Salem is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Arkansas, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 537 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.3% of Salem households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Salem’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200, and where Salem sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Roland AR | 1,147 | $175K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 634 | Wooster AR | 1,150 | $112K | 5.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,976 | Monroe Township OH | 1,356 | $43K | 36.3% | 5.5% | 2% | D− |
| 5,977 | Berry AL | 1,192 | $37K | 29.0% | 1.3% | 6% | D− |
| 5,978 | Salem AR | 1,611 | $41K | 29.1% | 4.4% | 35% | D− |
| 5,979 | Center CO | 1,890 | $46K | 19.9% | 18.1% | 20% | D− |
| 5,980 | Pearson GA | 1,908 | $32K | 36.4% | 6.0% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Salem, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Salem: questions
What is the median household income in Salem?
$40,833 (±$13,568) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salem?
29.1%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salem?
27 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salem work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mountain Home (11%, 31 mi), Little Rock (5%, 118 mi), Batesville (4%, 43 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salem walkable?
Salem is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salem without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Salem, from the people who make the trip.
More of Salem
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.