Gilboa Methodist Church · Photo: Upstateherd · CC BY-SA 3.0Salem has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
0% of workers have no commute at all, against 16% across North Carolina. 89 jobs are based in Salem, against 894 working residents. The two grades for Salem are C− for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Salem, in brief
Salem is a place people come home to
There are 89 jobs based in Salem, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Salem has about 1,600 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Salem and Morganton trade workers both ways
Morganton is the top workplace for Salem residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Salem come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Salem workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 894 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Salem earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Salem is better than 20% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Salem’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (19.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Salem could be anywhere from D to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Salem
On a workday 888 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 83 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Salem on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer 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.
31% of working residents work in Morganton
Where Salem clocks in
31% of workers
8% of workers
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.
About 21 minutes each way for Salem’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salem workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 952 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across North Carolina: 85% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salem, 2013 → 2023: 32 → 89. 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.
The commute from Salem, by distance
About 20% 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.
For most of Salem, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Salem is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. 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 952 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 (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Salem’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200, Salem ranks 3,777th of 4,995 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,775 | Bon Secour AL | 2,789 | $61K | 17.7% | 5.0% | 1% | C− |
| 3,776 | Rogue River OR | 2,293 | $55K | 12.6% | 10.2% | 8% | C− |
| 3,777 | Salem NC | 2,377 | $69K | 19.1% | 7.1% | 1% | C− |
| 3,778 | Gloverville SC | 2,505 | $52K | 15.6% | 8.3% | 1% | C− |
| 3,779 | Bowdon GA | 2,298 | $65K | 18.4% | 2.7% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 North Carolina.
Bordering towns draw 31% of Salem’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Morganton. Darker towns draw more of Salem’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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?
$68,988 (±$13,864) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salem?
19.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salem?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salem work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morganton (31%, 3 mi), Hickory (8%, 21 mi), Charlotte (5%, 60 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salem walkable?
Salem is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salem without a car?
0% 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.