Mount Pleasant vs Salem

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

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

Mount Pleasant has the higher population (9,093 vs 363 in Salem). Salem has the higher median household income ($59,583 vs $59,216 in Mount Pleasant). Mount Pleasant has the higher median home value ($145,600 vs $75,000 in Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Mount Pleasant	Salem
Population	9,093	363
Median age	35.9 yrs	48.2 yrs
Median household income	$59,216	$59,583
Median home value	$145,600	$75,000
Median gross rent	$773	$850
Housing units	3,797	155
Homeownership rate	65.1%	83.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.5%	5.2%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	1.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mount Pleasant	Salem
Population	8,581 → 9,093 (+6.0%)	494 → 363 (-26.5%)
Median household income	$51,350 → $59,216 (+15.3%)	$40,625 → $59,583 (+46.7%)
Median home value	$116,500 → $145,600 (+25.0%)	$60,000 → $75,000 (+25.0%)
Median gross rent	$691 → $773 (+11.9%)	$645 → $850 (+31.8%)

Mount Pleasant

Population

8,5819,093

Median household income

$51,350$59,216

Median home value

$116,500$145,600

Median gross rent

$691$773

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)

	Mount Pleasant	Salem
Under 5	4.7%	3.9%
5 to 17	13.2%	13.8%
18 to 24	14.8%	7.7%
25 to 34	15.4%	6.3%
35 to 44	10.2%	16.5%
45 to 54	10.9%	13.8%
55 to 64	12.8%	15.4%
65 to 74	9.7%	10.7%
75 and over	8.3%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mount Pleasant	Salem
White (non-Hispanic)	79.0%	79.6%
Black or African American	5.4%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	1.4%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.2%	11.8%
Hispanic or Latino	10.2%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mount Pleasant	Salem
No high school diploma	12.9%	8.1%
High school graduate	32.7%	41.7%
Some college or associate's	30.9%	45.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	4.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	1.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mount Pleasant	Salem
Drove alone	77.9%	83.1%
Carpooled	11.8%	8.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.9%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.8%	5.2%
Other means	0.3%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mount Pleasant	Salem
1-unit, detached	69.9%	76.8%
1-unit, attached	5.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	11.0%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	3.9%
20 or more units	4.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	15.5%

Poverty & households

	Mount Pleasant	Salem
Poverty rate	17.1%	10.2%
Average household size	2.26	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	14	26
Median year structure built	1968	1954