Salem is a medium-sized city located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 25,523 people and nine associated neighborhoods, Salem is the 39th largest community in Virginia.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 professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Salem who work in office and administrative support (12.59%), sales jobs (9.74%), and management occupations (9.72%). Also of interest is that Salem has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 8.51% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. The overall education level of Salem citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 32.52% of adults in Salem have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%. The per capita income in Salem in 2022 was $37,991, which is upper middle income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $151,964 for a family of four. However, Salem contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Salem is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. 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 English, German, Irish, Italian, and Scots-Irish. The most common language spoken in Salem is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
