Photo: Roseohioresident · CC BY-SA 4.0West Salem has lower household incomes than 71% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 13.9% of residents; Ohio has 13.3%. The two grades for West Salem are C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. 5% of workers have no commute at all, against 13% across Ohio.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in West Salem
West Salem makes and builds things
71% of the jobs based in West Salem are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs West Salem residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 29%. The jobs ↓
West Salem workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 23 across Ohio. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 537 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in West Salem
On income, poverty and job access, West Salem is better than 37% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds West Salem’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($62,042, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: West 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, West Salem could be anywhere from C− to B.
The jobs
322 jobs are based in West Salem.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in West Salem, 2014 → 2024: 103 → 322. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs West Salem’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long West Salem spends getting to work: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of West Salem workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 500 commuters (the 5% 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.
The daily commute in and out of West Salem
On a workday 516 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 301 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in West Salem on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.60 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
15% of working residents work in Wooster
Where West Salem clocks in
7% 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.
West Salem’s commute, mile by mile
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In West Salem, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, West Salem is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.7% across Ohio, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 527 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). 4.5% of West Salem households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of West Salem’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, West Salem comes 2,852nd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | New California OH | 1,672 | $162K | 0.0% | 1.1% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Millcreek Township OH | 1,562 | $151K | 2.3% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Bratenahl OH | 1,396 | $138K | 4.4% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,850 | Milford IN | 1,686 | $52K | 9.4% | 1.7% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,851 | Auburn KS | 1,272 | $58K | 10.9% | 4.8% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,852 | West Salem OH | 1,430 | $62K | 13.9% | 3.2% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,853 | Franklin Township IN | 1,679 | $85K | 13.3% | 0.4% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,854 | Baker Township KS | 1,264 | $73K | 5.9% | 2.8% | 32% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 West Salem, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 West Salem: questions
What is the median household income in West Salem?
$62,042 (±$24,348) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in West Salem?
13.9%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from West Salem?
30 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in West Salem work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wooster (15%, 14 mi), Medina (7%, 17 mi), Ashland (3%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is West Salem walkable?
West Salem is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around West Salem without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from West Salem, from the people who make the trip.
More of West Salem
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.