Residents will find that the town is relatively quiet. This is because it is not over-populated, and it has fewer college students, renters, and young children - all of whom can be noisy at times. So, if you're looking for a relatively peaceful place to live, Salem is worth considering.
Salem is very much a car-oriented town. This is because the population of Salem isn't large enough or dense enough to support an extensive public transit system. It has a lot of rural roads, and the distance between houses can be quite large, which together tends to discourage walking and bicycling to work. 96.51% of residents commute to work in their own car (and the drive is typically to a job out of town). People also tend to drive out of town for other services as well, such as shopping, doctors appointments, and more.
As is often the case in a small town, Salem doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The rate of college-level education in Salem is quite a bit lower than the national average among all cities of 21.84%: just 10.07% of people here over 25 have a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree.
The per capita income in Salem in 2022 was $27,744, which is middle income relative to South Carolina, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $110,976 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 Asian. Important ancestries of people in Salem include German, Irish, French, English, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in Salem is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
