Penns Grove vs Salem

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

Penns Grove and Salem are places in New Jersey. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Salem has the higher population (5,315 vs 4,860 in Penns Grove). Penns Grove has the higher median household income ($43,889 vs $40,650 in Salem). Penns Grove has the higher median home value ($170,100 vs $69,300 in Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Penns Grove	Salem
Population	4,860	5,315
Median age	26.1 yrs	36.1 yrs
Median household income	$43,889	$40,650
Median home value	$170,100	$69,300
Median gross rent	$1,031	$992
Housing units	1,838	2,889
Homeownership rate	38.2%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.6%	12.7%
Unemployment rate	16.9%	10.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Penns Grove	Salem
Population	4,816 → 4,860 (+0.9%)	4,781 → 5,315 (+11.2%)
Median household income	$31,940 → $43,889 (+37.4%)	$24,926 → $40,650 (+63.1%)
Median home value	$127,000 → $170,100 (+33.9%)	$82,500 → $69,300 (-16.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,028 → $1,031 (+0.3%)	$869 → $992 (+14.2%)

Penns Grove

Population

4,8164,860

Median household income

$31,940$43,889

Median home value

$127,000$170,100

Median gross rent

$1,028$1,031

Salem

Population

4,7815,315

Median household income

$24,926$40,650

Median home value

$82,500$69,300

Median gross rent

$869$992

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Penns Grove	Salem
Under 5	6.3%	11.6%
5 to 17	33.3%	15.8%
18 to 24	8.8%	8.5%
25 to 34	10.4%	12.1%
35 to 44	11.7%	13.7%
45 to 54	8.6%	6.5%
55 to 64	12.4%	13.4%
65 to 74	5.5%	10.7%
75 and over	2.9%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Penns Grove	Salem
White (non-Hispanic)	32.1%	30.2%
Black or African American	30.3%	56.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.2%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	31.3%	8.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Penns Grove	Salem
No high school diploma	19.1%	20.7%
High school graduate	34.0%	43.7%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	22.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.1%	9.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	3.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Penns Grove	Salem
Drove alone	86.4%	60.8%
Carpooled	3.1%	20.1%
Public transit	1.8%	4.2%
Walked	2.2%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	1.2%	12.7%
Other means	5.3%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Penns Grove	Salem
1-unit, detached	48.7%	34.5%
1-unit, attached	18.1%	22.0%
2 to 4 units	14.4%	25.6%
5 to 19 units	7.7%	14.4%
20 or more units	11.2%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Penns Grove	Salem
Poverty rate	36.3%	31.2%
Average household size	3.15	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	22	28
Median year structure built	1956	1943