Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Salem has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
There are 526 jobs in Salem, and 1,079 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Salem are C− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. For 23% of workers, the job is at home (New York 15%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Salem
What’s behind Salem’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Salem is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #666 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Salem’s grade up ($83,398, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Salem could be anywhere from D to B−.
About 29 minutes to work from Salem
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salem workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 904 commuters (the 23% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Salem quiets down on a workday
On a workday 878 residents head out to work, 201 work right here, and 325 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Salem on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
5% of working residents work in Saratoga Springs
Where Salem clocks in
5% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Jobs in Salem: what the 526 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salem, 2013 → 2023: 496 → 526. 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 distance from Salem to work
About 16% 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.
Driving is how Salem gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Salem is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns, #586 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,171 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). 6.9% of Salem households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Salem’s commuters take a bus or train.
Salem next to U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500: 4,019th of 5,083 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Old Brookville NY | 2,098 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | East Williston NY | 2,616 | $215K | 2.3% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 10 | Laurel Hollow NY | 1,949 | $250K | 3.5% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,017 | Langdon ND | 1,809 | $64K | 11.1% | 0.5% | 47% | C− |
| 4,018 | Leechburg PA | 2,068 | $48K | 19.6% | 5.5% | 6% | C− |
| 4,019 | Salem NY | 2,595 | $83K | 17.6% | 6.4% | 19% | C− |
| 4,020 | Bawcomville LA | 2,804 | $25K | 47.3% | 4.9% | 1% | C− |
| 4,021 | Sumner IA | 2,022 | $59K | 13.6% | 2.9% | 22% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | 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 New York.
Salem and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Greenwich (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
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?
$83,398 (±$12,074) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salem?
17.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salem?
29 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salem work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Saratoga Springs (5%, 24 mi), New York City (4%, 175 mi), Queensbury (4%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salem walkable?
Salem is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salem without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% 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.