Peabody vs Salem

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

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

Peabody has the higher population (54,180 vs 44,241 in Salem). Peabody has the higher median household income ($95,278 vs $85,137 in Salem). Peabody has the higher median home value ($566,200 vs $497,400 in Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Peabody	Salem
Population	54,180	44,241
Median age	46.6 yrs	38.5 yrs
Median household income	$95,278	$85,137
Median home value	$566,200	$497,400
Median gross rent	$1,902	$1,800
Housing units	23,254	21,000
Homeownership rate	65.6%	51.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.9%	49.6%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Peabody	Salem
Population	52,906 → 54,180 (+2.4%)	43,252 → 44,241 (+2.3%)
Median household income	$73,217 → $95,278 (+30.1%)	$68,808 → $85,137 (+23.7%)
Median home value	$387,400 → $566,200 (+46.2%)	$367,200 → $497,400 (+35.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,366 → $1,902 (+39.2%)	$1,289 → $1,800 (+39.6%)

Peabody

Population

52,90654,180

Median household income

$73,217$95,278

Median home value

$387,400$566,200

Median gross rent

$1,366$1,902

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)

	Peabody	Salem
Under 5	5.7%	3.8%
5 to 17	11.8%	11.8%
18 to 24	7.4%	12.0%
25 to 34	12.6%	17.8%
35 to 44	11.4%	13.6%
45 to 54	12.1%	11.1%
55 to 64	14.7%	13.5%
65 to 74	12.0%	10.1%
75 and over	12.3%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Peabody	Salem
White (non-Hispanic)	76.7%	67.6%
Black or African American	3.6%	5.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	2.0%	3.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.7%	1.1%
Two or more races	4.6%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	12.4%	19.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Peabody	Salem
No high school diploma	9.4%	8.1%
High school graduate	29.6%	20.6%
Some college or associate's	27.1%	21.7%
Bachelor's degree	22.3%	28.9%
Graduate or professional degree	11.5%	20.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Peabody	Salem
Drove alone	79.6%	57.6%
Carpooled	6.6%	5.6%
Public transit	2.5%	6.3%
Walked	0.9%	6.2%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.8%
Worked from home	8.8%	19.4%
Other means	1.4%	4.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Peabody	Salem
1-unit, detached	49.9%	25.3%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	6.6%
2 to 4 units	14.0%	37.4%
5 to 19 units	11.0%	14.1%
20 or more units	18.0%	16.5%
Mobile home & other	2.3%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Peabody	Salem
Poverty rate	6.5%	13.7%
Average household size	2.38	2.16
Mean commute (minutes)	27	30
Median year structure built	1966	1938