Best PlacesSalem, VA 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. 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 ranks 745th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise 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
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 93% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 91% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 87% of cities
Where Salem ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 28% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Salem
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Salem home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,686, 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's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 9 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
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 health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Salem
Salem has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife 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 66 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
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 121 miles away.
The best schools in and around Salem
Schools across Salem average an A, better than 93% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Grandin Court ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Fort Lewis ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Mason's Cove ElementaryA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hidden Valley MiddleA+ · 80% proficient
- Cave Spring MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Read Mountain MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Hidden Valley HighA+ · 87% proficient
- Cave Spring HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Glenvar HighA+ · 85% 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 2,097 cities.
Who Salem suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Salem
Is Salem a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Salem ranks 745th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and tree cover, and lowest on noise and distance from a big city. 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 $283,163. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $82,686 median income, cost of living beats 55% of cities.
Is Salem safe?
Yes, Salem is safer than 66% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $289 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Salem?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 28. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of cities.
Is Salem good for families?
Schools beat 93% of cities, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $922 a month.
Compare Salem with other cities
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.