Salem is a very small city located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 1,482 people and three associated neighborhoods, Salem is the 125th largest community in West Virginia. Salem has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.Salem is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Salem is a city of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Salem who work in maintenance occupations (16.32%), sales jobs (12.86%), and office and administrative support (10.26%).In addition, Salem is a college town. There are a lot of students in Salem attending college, and as a result Salem provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared to the needs and activities of students. The education level of Salem citizens, measured as those with bachelor's degrees or advanced degrees, is similar to the national average for all American cities and towns. 18.24% of adults 25 and older in Salem have a college degree. The per capita income in Salem in 2022 was $20,352, which is low income relative to West Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $81,408 for a family of four. However, Salem contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. 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 Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Salem include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Scots-Irish. The most common language spoken in Salem is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and West Germanic languages.
