Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Salem earns a D, ranked 116th of 142 in Oregon, mostly because of safety. Its crime rate is higher than 89% of U.S. towns, with 763 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. In its favor, it is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. 49% of working residents work locally in Salem, against 9.5% in Oregon’s towns and 8% across U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Jason Lee House and Methodist Mission Parsonage. Homes are expensive, about $432K for a typical one and 5.5 times the Salem metro’s $79K median household income.
Where Salem beats most towns.
Its founding year, 1842, comes before those of 97% of the Oregon towns we grade with a known year. Its 70 National Register listings are more than in 99% of Oregon towns with a listing.
Census counts: 902 in 1860, 175,535 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1841 and 6 maps from 1915 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Salem is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Salem. Close and well known come first.
6 mi Theme parkEnchanted Forest
20 mi MuseumEvergreen Aviation & Space Museum
28 mi Stadium & arenaReser Stadium
21 mi State parkSilver Falls State Park
36 mi WaterfallWillamette Fallsin town MuseumHallie Ford Museum of Art30K visitors a yearEnchanted Forest: Trashbag (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum: Notkeel at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Reser Stadium: Zapper258, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Silver Falls State Park: Kelvin Kay -- Kkmd at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Willamette Falls: The original uploader was Cacophony at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Salem, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Oct 2, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Salem.
Reported crimes fell from 6,508 to 4,966 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Salem is 4.2 per 1,000 residents. Salem reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 89% report less. The property crime rate in Salem is 23.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Salem | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.2 per 1,000 residents | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 23.2 per 1,000 residents | 15.2 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by Salem-Keizer SD 24J. Two of its 61 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephens Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,014 | – |
| McKay High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,380 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
55 miles of trail in 86 parks and preserves. Salem’s trail density is 1.1 miles per square mile. Minto-Brown Island Park, at 1,193 acres with 8.8 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Salem | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.1 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.9% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Minto-Brown Island Park | 8.8 mi | 1,193 |
| 2. Wallace Marine Park | 2.6 mi | 155 |
| 3. Cascades Gateway Park | 2.1 mi | 104 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Salem has mild winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 36° and about 1 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Jobs based in Salem grew to 103,875 in 2023, 20,401 more than in 2013. 14% of residents live below the poverty line in Salem. The top destinations are Portland (6%), Keizer (3%) and Woodburn (2%).
| Salem | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 16% | 14% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $75,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
56% of Salem households own their home. The typical Salem home is worth about $432,000, about the same as a year ago, 12% below the Oregon typical home.
| Salem | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 56% | 65% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 55% | 53% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,400 a month | $1,415 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Oregon average. Salem has grown 3.6% since 2020, to 181,779 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 37% across Oregon.
| Salem | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 36 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 23% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 27% | 29% |
49.7% women, 50.3% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±0.7 points. Across Oregon, 50.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 36.9, men 35.0.
| Salem | OR | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.4% | 10.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.4% | 9.6% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.8% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.9% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.3% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.4% | 12.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.1% | 11.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.7% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.7% | 8.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.1% | 22.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 24.5% | 23.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.2% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.9% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.5% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 56% of U.S. communities. Since 1981, 164 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Salem.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Salem beats the Oregon average on 1 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 4.
| Salem | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 35% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 73% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Salem | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.8% | 8.9% |
| More uninsured adults | 11.6% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
4 within 15 miles of the center of Salem
About 5 of every 100 Salem residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Oregon.
2 colleges in town.
70 places in Salem on the National Register of Historic Places.
43 notable people were born in Salem.
Capital city of Oregon, United States
Salem ( , SAY-ləm) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. The population was 175,535 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 180,406 in 2024, making it the second-most populous city in the state after Portland and before Eugene. Salem is the principal city of the Salem metropolitan area that covers Marion and Polk counties and had a combined population of 433,353 at the 2020 census and was estimated to…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Salem.
| Town | OR rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | #116 | D | D | D | C | B− |
| Hayesville | #125 | D− | D | — | C | C− |
| Four Corners | #109 | D | C− | — | C | C− |
| Keizer | #87 | C− | D | C | C | B− |
Hayesville and Four Corners report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Salem with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
It grades B− for health, D for safety and C for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
43 notable people were born here, including John Zerzan and Justin Kirk.
