Best PlacesSalem City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Salem City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Salem City ranks 344th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Salem City
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Salem City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Salem City ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- School gradeA, better than 97% of counties
- BikingBetter than 93% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of counties
Where Salem City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- Cheap childcare$898 a month, better than only 28% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Salem City
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Salem City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,730, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Salem City's effective rate of 0.84%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Salem City
Salem City's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Salem City.
Who works in Salem City, and how
Work in Salem City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Salem City
Salem City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of counties and more parkland per resident than 68% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Salem City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Salem City growing, and who is moving in?
Salem City has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Roanoke, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Salem City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Salem City, month by month
Salem City sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Salem City
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Salem City
Schools across Salem City average an A, better than 97% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Fort Lewis ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- West Salem ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- South Salem ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glenvar MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Andrew Lewis MiddleA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Glenvar HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Salem HighA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Salem City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Salem City measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Salem City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Salem City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Salem City
Is Salem City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Salem City ranks 344th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, good schools, and biking, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Salem City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $274,806. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $74,730 median income, cost of living beats 70% of counties.
Is Salem City safe?
Yes, Salem City is safer than 63% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $325 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Salem City?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 28. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of counties.
Is Salem City good for families?
Schools beat 97% of counties, crime safety beats 63%, and childcare runs $898 a month.
Compare Salem City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Salem City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Salem City represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Salem City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Salem City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Salem City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Salem City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Salem City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Salem City detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.