The town is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, Salem has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Salem a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
Salem is a very car-oriented town. 96.51% of residents commute to work in a private automobile rather than by other means, such as public transit, bicycling, or walking. This is because Salem is a small town , and most people who live here have to drive out of town for work, and the town population is not large nor dense enough to support an extensive public transportation system. Salem has a lot of rural roads, and houses can be far apart. Many residents drive out of town for regular shopping trips as well.
As is often the case in a small town, Salem doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The percentage of people in Salem with college degrees is quite a bit lower than the national average for cities and towns of 21.84%: just 10.07% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or 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.
