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.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Salem is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-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 percentage of adults in Salem who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 18.24% of the adults in Salem have a bachelor's degree or advanced 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.
