Photo: TomahawkBRAWL · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Salem earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
21.3% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.3% for Ohio as a whole. The two grades for Salem are C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Home is the office for 3% of workers (Ohio 13%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Salem and work: the main findings
No single place dominates Salem’s commute
The biggest draw, Boardman Township, gets only 4% of working residents, and 51% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Salem residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Salem is where the jobs are
Salem has 7,453 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Salem makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Salem are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Salem residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
Few Salem workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Salem draws workers from far and wide
The 7,453 jobs in Salem are filled from a wide area. Salem’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 25%; the other 58% 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.
Salem’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Salem is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #912 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Salem’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($47,073, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Salem could be anywhere from D to C+.
Commuting in to Salem: where workers come from
Where Salem clocks in
4% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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 and out of Salem on a workday
On a workday 3,526 residents head out to work, 1,263 work right here, and 6,190 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Salem on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Salem makes things: 39% of its jobs are in goods
7,453 jobs are based in Salem.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salem, 2013 → 2023: 6,883 → 7,453. 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 trip to work from Salem: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salem workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,406 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Ohio: 86% 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.
Miles to work from Salem
About 17% 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, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Salem is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #79 of 993 in Ohio. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.7% across Ohio, on an EPA index of 7.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,567 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). 13.2% of Salem households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Salem’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000, Salem ranks 2,375th of 2,695 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| 4 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 5 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Jerome Township OH | 11,237 | $176K | 0.4% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,373 | Johnson City NY | 14,580 | $56K | 19.6% | 11.4% | 15% | C− |
| 2,374 | Bemidji MN | 15,770 | $55K | 21.3% | 5.2% | 55% | C− |
| 2,375 | Salem OH | 11,655 | $47K | 21.3% | 6.2% | 26% | C− |
| 2,376 | Riverton WY | 10,910 | $55K | 11.9% | 5.7% | 51% | C− |
| 2,377 | Potomac Park CA | 10,138 | $51K | 20.9% | 11.4% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Ohio.
Work in the towns next to Salem
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Salem workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | – | C− | A− | 22 min | $47,073 |
| Green Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 22 min | $97,656 |
| Salem Heights | under 2% | — | — | 11 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Salem Heights: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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?
$47,073 (±$7,554) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salem?
21.3%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salem?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salem work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boardman Township (4%, 13 mi), Youngstown (3%, 17 mi), Columbiana (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salem walkable?
Salem is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salem without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 13% 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.