Despard vs Salem

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

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

Salem has the higher population (1,812 vs 1,038 in Despard). Salem has the higher median household income ($43,690 vs $33,929 in Despard). Despard has the higher median home value ($82,100 vs $77,200 in Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Despard	Salem
Population	1,038	1,812
Median age	33.4 yrs	32.4 yrs
Median household income	$33,929	$43,690
Median home value	$82,100	$77,200
Median gross rent	$596	$570
Housing units	488	796
Homeownership rate	56.0%	71.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%	18.2%
Unemployment rate	25.8%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Despard	Salem
Population	1,098 → 1,038 (-5.5%)	1,714 → 1,812 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$41,250 → $33,929 (-17.7%)	$40,707 → $43,690 (+7.3%)
Median home value	$52,800 → $82,100 (+55.5%)	$67,600 → $77,200 (+14.2%)
Median gross rent	$704 → $596 (-15.3%)	$659 → $570 (-13.5%)

Despard

Population

1,0981,038

Median household income

$41,250$33,929

Median home value

$52,800$82,100

Median gross rent

$704$596

Salem

Population

1,7141,812

Median household income

$40,707$43,690

Median home value

$67,600$77,200

Median gross rent

$659$570

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Despard	Salem
Under 5	11.7%	2.3%
5 to 17	10.1%	11.2%
18 to 24	13.2%	21.8%
25 to 34	18.2%	17.1%
35 to 44	11.1%	9.8%
45 to 54	6.4%	11.3%
55 to 64	7.5%	12.4%
65 to 74	11.7%	7.7%
75 and over	10.2%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Despard	Salem
White (non-Hispanic)	97.9%	93.7%
Black or African American	0.0%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.1%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Despard	Salem
No high school diploma	13.0%	11.3%
High school graduate	55.6%	47.1%
Some college or associate's	18.7%	23.3%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	9.7%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Despard	Salem
Drove alone	69.6%	78.9%
Carpooled	0.0%	7.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.6%
Walked	20.4%	11.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.0%	1.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Despard	Salem
1-unit, detached	79.1%	70.5%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	0.4%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	10.8%
20 or more units	19.9%	9.4%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	7.0%

Poverty & households

	Despard	Salem
Poverty rate	26.1%	16.6%
Average household size	2.23	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	18	21
Median year structure built	1938	1949