Photo: Paul Sableman from St. Louis, MO · CC BY 2.0Salem has 1.8 jobs for every working resident: 4,359 people commute in to work
There are 5,411 jobs in Salem for 2,939 working residents. Salem grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Salem apart on work
Commutes from Salem are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Salem is where the jobs are
Salem has 5,411 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Salem workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Salem draws workers from far and wide
The 5,411 jobs in Salem are filled from a wide area. Salem’s own residents hold 19% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Why Salem gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Salem is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #586 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Salem’s grade up (2.4%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Salem could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Time on the road from Salem: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salem workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,139 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Salem fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,887 residents head out to work and 1,052 work right here.
About 9,500 people are in Salem on a workday afternoon, 35% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Salem’s workers come from
Where Salem clocks in
7% of workers
7% of workers
2% 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.
In Salem, 34% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salem, 2013 → 2023: 4,773 → 5,411. 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.
Miles to work from Salem
About 30% 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.
In Salem, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Salem is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #411 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Salem near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,278 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). 8.0% of Salem households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Salem’s commuters take a bus or train.
Salem places 2,243rd of 3,227 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| 13 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,241 | Montrose VA | 8,285 | $50K | 19.9% | 4.2% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,242 | Eagle Lake FL | 6,415 | $71K | 9.5% | 8.8% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,243 | Salem IL | 7,035 | $60K | 16.3% | 2.4% | 36% | C+ |
| 2,244 | University Park IL | 7,019 | $74K | 14.4% | 15.9% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,245 | Carthage TX | 6,640 | $51K | 11.0% | 3.2% | 30% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,227 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Illinois.
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?
$59,728 (±$8,627) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salem?
16.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salem?
14 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salem work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Centralia (7%, 12 mi), Mount Vernon (7%, 22 mi), Marion (2%, 62 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salem walkable?
Salem is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salem without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% 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.