Salem vs Valdese

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

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

Valdese has the higher population (4,689 vs 2,035 in Salem). Salem has the higher median household income ($66,653 vs $61,250 in Valdese). Valdese has the higher median home value ($171,300 vs $159,300 in Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Salem	Valdese
Population	2,035	4,689
Median age	42.8 yrs	53.2 yrs
Median household income	$66,653	$61,250
Median home value	$159,300	$171,300
Median gross rent	$772	$627
Housing units	1,106	2,335
Homeownership rate	74.2%	76.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.9%	37.9%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Salem	Valdese
Population	1,757 → 2,035 (+15.8%)	4,410 → 4,689 (+6.3%)
Median household income	$49,375 → $66,653 (+35.0%)	$58,350 → $61,250 (+5.0%)
Median home value	$134,900 → $159,300 (+18.1%)	$118,700 → $171,300 (+44.3%)
Median gross rent	$622 → $772 (+24.1%)	$552 → $627 (+13.6%)

Salem

Population

1,7572,035

Median household income

$49,375$66,653

Median home value

$134,900$159,300

Median gross rent

$622$772

Valdese

Population

4,4104,689

Median household income

$58,350$61,250

Median home value

$118,700$171,300

Median gross rent

$552$627

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Salem	Valdese
Under 5	9.4%	3.1%
5 to 17	10.9%	14.7%
18 to 24	3.8%	5.9%
25 to 34	12.6%	7.3%
35 to 44	14.5%	12.3%
45 to 54	9.6%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.6%	17.8%
65 to 74	17.3%	13.7%
75 and over	9.3%	12.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Salem	Valdese
White (non-Hispanic)	77.4%	86.4%
Black or African American	1.5%	1.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	2.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.4%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	15.1%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Salem	Valdese
No high school diploma	14.6%	6.6%
High school graduate	27.9%	32.7%
Some college or associate's	36.6%	22.8%
Bachelor's degree	16.8%	21.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.1%	16.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Salem	Valdese
Drove alone	75.6%	84.9%
Carpooled	23.0%	4.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.4%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	9.5%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Salem	Valdese
1-unit, detached	73.4%	77.7%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	8.0%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	7.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	15.5%	3.6%

Poverty & households

	Salem	Valdese
Poverty rate	19.9%	8.8%
Average household size	2.21	2.10
Mean commute (minutes)	19	26
Median year structure built	1977	1969