Salem vs Wayland

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

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

Wayland has the higher population (1,140 vs 363 in Salem). Wayland has the higher median household income ($67,000 vs $59,583 in Salem). Wayland has the higher median home value ($122,200 vs $75,000 in Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Salem	Wayland
Population	363	1,140
Median age	48.2 yrs	45.4 yrs
Median household income	$59,583	$67,000
Median home value	$75,000	$122,200
Median gross rent	$850	$693
Housing units	155	438
Homeownership rate	83.2%	76.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	5.2%	24.1%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	0.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Salem	Wayland
Population	494 → 363 (-26.5%)	1,066 → 1,140 (+6.9%)
Median household income	$40,625 → $59,583 (+46.7%)	$54,167 → $67,000 (+23.7%)
Median home value	$60,000 → $75,000 (+25.0%)	$91,000 → $122,200 (+34.3%)
Median gross rent	$645 → $850 (+31.8%)	$514 → $693 (+34.8%)

Salem

Population

494363

Median household income

$40,625$59,583

Median home value

$60,000$75,000

Median gross rent

$645$850

Wayland

Population

1,0661,140

Median household income

$54,167$67,000

Median home value

$91,000$122,200

Median gross rent

$514$693

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Salem	Wayland
Under 5	3.9%	4.3%
5 to 17	13.8%	13.1%
18 to 24	7.7%	6.1%
25 to 34	6.3%	8.0%
35 to 44	16.5%	17.2%
45 to 54	13.8%	16.6%
55 to 64	15.4%	15.7%
65 to 74	10.7%	8.2%
75 and over	11.8%	11.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Salem	Wayland
White (non-Hispanic)	79.6%	88.6%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.5%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	11.8%	10.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	0.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Salem	Wayland
No high school diploma	8.1%	3.2%
High school graduate	41.7%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	45.0%	39.3%
Bachelor's degree	4.1%	17.2%
Graduate or professional degree	1.1%	6.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Salem	Wayland
Drove alone	83.1%	83.4%
Carpooled	8.1%	6.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.6%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	4.3%
Worked from home	5.2%	4.0%
Other means	2.9%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Salem	Wayland
1-unit, detached	76.8%	76.5%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	3.9%	13.7%
5 to 19 units	3.9%	3.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	2.3%
Mobile home & other	15.5%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Salem	Wayland
Poverty rate	10.2%	6.6%
Average household size	2.44	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	26	24
Median year structure built	1954	1956