Methuen vs Salem

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

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

Methuen has the higher population (53,043 vs 44,241 in Salem). Methuen has the higher median household income ($103,270 vs $85,137 in Salem). Salem has the higher median home value ($497,400 vs $472,200 in Methuen).

Population, income & housing

	Methuen	Salem
Population	53,043	44,241
Median age	40.5 yrs	38.5 yrs
Median household income	$103,270	$85,137
Median home value	$472,200	$497,400
Median gross rent	$1,610	$1,800
Housing units	19,511	21,000
Homeownership rate	72.7%	51.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.5%	49.6%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Methuen	Salem
Population	—	43,252 → 44,241 (+2.3%)
Median household income	—	$68,808 → $85,137 (+23.7%)
Median home value	—	$367,200 → $497,400 (+35.5%)
Median gross rent	—	$1,289 → $1,800 (+39.6%)

Methuen

Salem

Population

43,25244,241

Median household income

$68,808$85,137

Median home value

$367,200$497,400

Median gross rent

$1,289$1,800

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Methuen	Salem
Under 5	—	3.8%
5 to 17	—	11.8%
18 to 24	—	12.0%
25 to 34	—	17.8%
35 to 44	—	13.6%
45 to 54	—	11.1%
55 to 64	—	13.5%
65 to 74	—	10.1%
75 and over	—	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Methuen	Salem
White (non-Hispanic)	—	67.6%
Black or African American	—	5.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	—	0.1%
Asian	—	3.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	—	0.1%
Some other race	—	1.1%
Two or more races	—	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	—	19.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Methuen	Salem
No high school diploma	—	8.1%
High school graduate	—	20.6%
Some college or associate's	—	21.7%
Bachelor's degree	—	28.9%
Graduate or professional degree	—	20.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Methuen	Salem
Drove alone	—	57.6%
Carpooled	—	5.6%
Public transit	—	6.3%
Walked	—	6.2%
Bicycle	—	0.8%
Worked from home	—	19.4%
Other means	—	4.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Methuen	Salem
1-unit, detached	—	25.3%
1-unit, attached	—	6.6%
2 to 4 units	—	37.4%
5 to 19 units	—	14.1%
20 or more units	—	16.5%
Mobile home & other	—	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Methuen	Salem
Poverty rate	—	13.7%
Average household size	—	2.16
Mean commute (minutes)	—	30
Median year structure built	—	1938