One thing noticeable about Salem, although not a huge city, is that it has a large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. That’s because Salem is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Salem a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.
In terms of college education, Salem is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 30.95% of adults in Salem have a college degree.
The per capita income in Salem in 2022 was $35,469, which is upper middle income relative to Oregon and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $141,876 for a family of four. However, Salem contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Salem is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Salem home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Salem residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Salem also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 22.84% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Salem include German, English, Irish, European, and Norwegian.
The most common language spoken in Salem is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Pacific Island languages.
