Median real estate price in the City Center of Salem is $86,743, which is less expensive than 87.4% of West Virginia neighborhoods and 95.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Salem City Center is currently $1,167, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 72.7% of West Virginia neighborhoods.
Salem City Center is a rural neighborhood (based on population density) located in Salem, West Virginia.
Real estate in the City Center of Salem, WV is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to small (studio to two bedroom) single-family homes and apartment complexes/high-rise apartments. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the City Center neighborhood are relatively historic, built no later than 1939, and in some cases, quite a bit earlier. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Salem City Center. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 21.2%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 88.2% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
There are more people living in the Salem City Center neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (58.3%) than almost any neighborhood in the country. From fast-food service workers to major sales accounts, sales and service workers make up the largest proportion of our national employment picture. But despite that size and importance nationally, this neighborhood still stands out as unique due to the dominance of people living here who work in such occupations.
One of the really interesting characteristics about the Salem City Center neighborhood is that, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research, it is an excellent choice in which to reside for college students. Due to its popularity among college students who already choose to live here, its walkability, and its above average safety from crime, the neighborhood is ideal for prospective or already-enrolled college students. Between semesters and during school breaks, you'll notice that the excitement here fluctuates with the college seasons. Despite the excitement however, parents of college-age children can rest easy knowing that this neighborhood has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 2.9% of college-friendly places to live in the state of West Virginia.
In addition, neighborhoodScout's analysis shows that the Salem City Center neighborhood has a greater concentration of residents currently enrolled in college than 96.5% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. With 13.4% of the population here attending college, this is very much a college-focused neighborhood.
Did you know that the Salem City Center neighborhood has more Belgian and Scots-Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 1.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Belgian ancestry and 3.6% have Scots-Irish ancestry.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the City Center neighborhood in Salem are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 84.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 25.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 76.2% of U.S. neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the Salem City Center neighborhood, 41.7% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 23.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (20.6%), and 14.5% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the Salem City Center neighborhood is English, spoken by 96.1% of households. Some people also speak Polish (4.4%).
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the City Center neighborhood in Salem, WV, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (14.4%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (10.2%), and residents who report Irish roots (8.2%), and some of the residents are also of Scots-Irish ancestry (3.6%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (3.2%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in Salem City Center neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (42.2% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (78.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (9.0%) and 6.9% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.