Because there are quite a few people attending college in Salem, it is thought of as a college town. To the benefit of the many students in the area, Salem provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards their needs and activities.
Being a small city, Salem does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The citizens of Salem are slightly better educated than the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns, with 21.59% of adults in Salem having a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Salem in 2018 was $20,236, which is lower middle income relative to West Virginia, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $80,944 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 Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Salem include German, English, Irish, Scots-Irish, and Polish.
The most common language spoken in Salem is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
