Salem vs Saugus

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

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

Salem has the higher population (44,241 vs 28,599 in Saugus). Saugus has the higher median household income ($100,819 vs $85,137 in Salem). Saugus has the higher median home value ($589,500 vs $497,400 in Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Salem	Saugus
Population	44,241	28,599
Median age	38.5 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$85,137	$100,819
Median home value	$497,400	$589,500
Median gross rent	$1,800	$1,982
Housing units	21,000	11,259
Homeownership rate	51.4%	73.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	49.6%	31.4%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Salem	Saugus
Population	43,252 → 44,241 (+2.3%)	28,215 → 28,599 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$68,808 → $85,137 (+23.7%)	$88,667 → $100,819 (+13.7%)
Median home value	$367,200 → $497,400 (+35.5%)	$394,900 → $589,500 (+49.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,289 → $1,800 (+39.6%)	$919 → $1,982 (+115.7%)

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

Saugus

Population

28,21528,599

Median household income

$88,667$100,819

Median home value

$394,900$589,500

Median gross rent

$919$1,982

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Salem	Saugus
Under 5	3.8%	4.1%
5 to 17	11.8%	12.8%
18 to 24	12.0%	7.5%
25 to 34	17.8%	13.8%
35 to 44	13.6%	13.2%
45 to 54	11.1%	13.5%
55 to 64	13.5%	13.4%
65 to 74	10.1%	11.9%
75 and over	6.3%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Salem	Saugus
White (non-Hispanic)	67.6%	74.3%
Black or African American	5.1%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	3.3%	2.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	1.1%	3.1%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	19.4%	12.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Salem	Saugus
No high school diploma	8.1%	9.2%
High school graduate	20.6%	33.9%
Some college or associate's	21.7%	25.5%
Bachelor's degree	28.9%	18.9%
Graduate or professional degree	20.7%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Salem	Saugus
Drove alone	57.6%	72.8%
Carpooled	5.6%	6.9%
Public transit	6.3%	3.5%
Walked	6.2%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	19.4%	11.7%
Other means	4.0%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Salem	Saugus
1-unit, detached	25.3%	65.6%
1-unit, attached	6.6%	4.2%
2 to 4 units	37.4%	13.5%
5 to 19 units	14.1%	7.9%
20 or more units	16.5%	8.3%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Salem	Saugus
Poverty rate	13.7%	6.4%
Average household size	2.16	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	30	29
Median year structure built	1938	1961