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Cost of living, rent, and safety data — Population 178,865 • 0 community reports
Data last updated
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Common questions about living in Salem, OR
Salem's crime numbers hover right around the U.S. average. Violent crime index: 94. Property crime index: 139. The national baseline for both is 100, so you're looking at a city that's neither notably safe nor notably dangerous on paper. In practice, where you live within the city shifts the picture dramatically — a 10-minute drive can mean a completely different experience. Check local crime maps. Source: FBI UCR.
Housing costs in Salem are reasonable. Median rent sits at $1,400/month with median household income at $75,487/year — a 22.3% rent-to-income ratio. That's well within the comfort zone that most financial advisors recommend. It's not dirt cheap, but most working households can afford rent here without financial strain. Other costs like groceries and utilities will vary, but the rent picture is solid. Census ACS 2023 data.
The average worker in Salem spends about 19 minutes getting to the office. Driving solo is the default (65.3%), with 15.8% working remotely and 1.6% on public transit. It's a fairly typical commute — not a selling point, not a dealbreaker.
Everything on this page is built from public government sources: rent and income figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2023); commute and transportation data from Census ACS tables B08303 and B08006; crime rates from the FBI Uniform Crime Report. We refresh each dataset monthly through an automated pipeline and cross-check for anomalies. No surveys, no user-submitted guesses — just official federal data presented in a way that's actually useful for people researching a move.
Disclaimer: Data reflects city-wide averages from public sources. Individual neighborhoods, schools, and conditions may differ. Always verify with local agencies before making major decisions.
These calculators pair well with the Salem, OR dashboard.
City scores blend federal baseline data with community reports from residents. The more reports a city has, the more the score reflects current conditions rather than historical averages.
The overall score is a weighted average of four categories:
Confidence tells you how reliable a score is based on report volume and recency:
CityScore = (BaselineWeight × BaselineScore) + (CrowdWeight × CommunityScore)
CrowdWeight grows from 0% to 50% as reports accumulate. Verified reports count double.