Salem, KY population, income and ZIP codes

Salem city is a very small community in Kentucky, with 782 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #276 of 554 ranked by population — larger than 50% of them. The median age here is 45.3 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 $61,250 a year, 22% below the national figure of $78,538 and 10% above the $55,469 median for the 246 Kentucky 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 19% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in Salem city is valued at $100,000, 67% below the national figure and 36% below the $157,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $683 a month, 51.4% below the national figure, or roughly $8,196 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 13.4% 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 1.6×, 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. 76% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. 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 782 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.