Best PlacesSalem, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Salem, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Salem ranks 7,846th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Salem
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Salem ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
Where Salem ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 38% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Salem
A household needs to earn about $128,000 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 $101,718, 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 0.41%, 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 runs older than the country, 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.
Who works in Salem, and how
Work in Salem centers on professional & technical and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Salem
Salem has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Salem and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Salem, month by month
Salem sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 44° | 33° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 49° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Salem
The nearest airport, Greenville Spartanburg International, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Salem
Schools across Salem average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Keowee ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Six Mile ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Tamassee-salem ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- R. C. Edwards MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Rosman MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Pickens MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- D. W. Daniel HighA · 76% proficient
- Walhalla HighA · 69% proficient
- Rosman HighA− · 63% 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 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Salem
Is Salem a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Salem ranks 7,846th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, tree cover, and what local pay buys, and lowest on an overheated housing market and summer heat. 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 $517,337. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $101,718 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Salem safe?
Salem is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $394 per resident a year.
Compare Salem with other towns
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.
- 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.