Best PlacesSalem, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Salem metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Oregon Department of Transportation, CC BY 2.0, via commons
Salem ranks 159th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Its strengths are few empty homes and state infrastructure. The cost shows up in thin health care access, education levels, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in the Salem metro
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.
The best areas in Salem
The towns and districts of the Salem metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Monmouth & Independence
Crime runs lower, more adults hold degrees, and it is quieter.
Dallas
More residents vote and local pay stretches further.
Jefferson & Turner
Health care is easier to reach and incomes run higher.
Stayton, Aumsville & Sublimity
Biking is worse and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Keizer & Hayesville
More households have young kids.
Woodburn & Silverton
Prices have run up less, though schools score lower.
Downtown Salem
Streets are more walkable, though tree cover is thinner.
Salem shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 7% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Salem's strengths and weaknesses
Salem lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Few empty homes is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. State infrastructure and transit follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Thin health care access, education levels, and disaster risk hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Salem ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 92% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 91% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of metro areas
Where Salem ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 16% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 23% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 28% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Salem
A household needs to earn about $114,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Salem home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,994, so buying stretches a typical household.
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's effective rate of 0.83%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Salem
Salem's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Salem.
Who works in Salem, and how
Work in Salem centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Salem
Salem has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 67 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Salem and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Salem growing, and who is moving in?
Salem has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Portland, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Salem go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Salem, month by month
Salem sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 42° | 35° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 88° | 71° | 55° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Salem
The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Salem
Schools across Salem average a C+, better than 56% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Pratum Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Victor Point Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Colton Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Molalla River Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Mt Angel Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Jefferson Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Cascade Senior High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Silverton High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Salem school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Salem 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 against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Salem suits
Common questions about living in Salem
Is Salem a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Salem ranks 159th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on few empty homes, state infrastructure, and transit, and lowest on thin health care access and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Salem expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $432,396. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $83,994 median income, cost of living beats 40% of metro areas.
Is Salem safe?
Yes, Salem is safer than 66% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $393 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Salem?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 35. That works out to about 106 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Salem?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Monmouth & Independence, Dallas, and Jefferson & Turner. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Salem good for families?
Schools beat 56% of metro areas, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $1,081 a month.
Is Salem good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 40% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 27% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Salem with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Salem. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Salem 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Salem: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Salem: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Salem: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Salem: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Salem 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.