Salem, IA population, income and ZIP codes

Salem city is a very small community in Iowa, with 363 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #559 of 1,026 ranked by population — larger than 45% of them. The median age here is 48.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Salem city earn a median of $59,583 a year, 24.1% below the national figure of $78,538 and 12% below the $67,791 median for the 290 Iowa cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 10.2% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Salem city is valued at $75,000, 75.3% below the national figure and 52% below the $156,300 peer median, while median gross rent runs $850 a month, 39.5% below the national figure, or roughly $10,200 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 17.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 1.3×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 83.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

With 363 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Salem city against its county rather than against national figures.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.