Hillsboro vs Salem

A side-by-side comparison of Hillsboro and Salem: population, income, housing, and more.

Hillsboro and Salem are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Salem has the higher population (363 vs 159 in Hillsboro). Salem has the higher median household income ($59,583 vs $43,125 in Hillsboro). Salem has the higher median home value ($75,000 vs $47,800 in Hillsboro).

Population, income & housing

	Hillsboro	Salem
Population	159	363
Median age	35.4 yrs	48.2 yrs
Median household income	$43,125	$59,583
Median home value	$47,800	$75,000
Median gross rent	$1,063	$850
Housing units	87	155
Homeownership rate	69.1%	83.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	3.1%	5.2%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	1.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hillsboro	Salem
Population	202 → 159 (-21.3%)	494 → 363 (-26.5%)
Median household income	$32,708 → $43,125 (+31.8%)	$40,625 → $59,583 (+46.7%)
Median home value	$33,800 → $47,800 (+41.4%)	$60,000 → $75,000 (+25.0%)
Median gross rent	$650 → $1,063 (+63.5%)	$645 → $850 (+31.8%)

Hillsboro

Population

202159

Median household income

$32,708$43,125

Median home value

$33,800$47,800

Median gross rent

$650$1,063

Salem

Population

494363

Median household income

$40,625$59,583

Median home value

$60,000$75,000

Median gross rent

$645$850

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hillsboro	Salem
Under 5	10.7%	3.9%
5 to 17	14.5%	13.8%
18 to 24	13.2%	7.7%
25 to 34	10.7%	6.3%
35 to 44	17.6%	16.5%
45 to 54	6.3%	13.8%
55 to 64	11.9%	15.4%
65 to 74	7.5%	10.7%
75 and over	7.5%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hillsboro	Salem
White (non-Hispanic)	96.9%	79.6%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	0.0%	11.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hillsboro	Salem
No high school diploma	7.1%	8.1%
High school graduate	44.9%	41.7%
Some college or associate's	44.9%	45.0%
Bachelor's degree	2.0%	4.1%
Graduate or professional degree	1.0%	1.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hillsboro	Salem
Drove alone	90.6%	83.1%
Carpooled	9.4%	8.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	5.2%
Other means	0.0%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hillsboro	Salem
1-unit, detached	83.9%	76.8%
1-unit, attached	4.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	3.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	11.5%	15.5%

Poverty & households

	Hillsboro	Salem
Poverty rate	23.9%	10.2%
Average household size	2.89	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	35	26
Median year structure built	1938	1954