Salem vs Shinnston

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

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

Shinnston has the higher population (2,198 vs 1,812 in Salem). Shinnston has the higher median household income ($63,750 vs $43,690 in Salem). Shinnston has the higher median home value ($135,500 vs $77,200 in Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Salem	Shinnston
Population	1,812	2,198
Median age	32.4 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	$43,690	$63,750
Median home value	$77,200	$135,500
Median gross rent	$570	$940
Housing units	796	1,046
Homeownership rate	71.2%	75.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Salem	Shinnston
Population	1,714 → 1,812 (+5.7%)	2,265 → 2,198 (-3.0%)
Median household income	$40,707 → $43,690 (+7.3%)	$56,854 → $63,750 (+12.1%)
Median home value	$67,600 → $77,200 (+14.2%)	$109,200 → $135,500 (+24.1%)
Median gross rent	$659 → $570 (-13.5%)	$810 → $940 (+16.0%)

Salem

Population

1,7141,812

Median household income

$40,707$43,690

Median home value

$67,600$77,200

Median gross rent

$659$570

Shinnston

Population

2,2652,198

Median household income

$56,854$63,750

Median home value

$109,200$135,500

Median gross rent

$810$940

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Salem	Shinnston
Under 5	2.3%	3.7%
5 to 17	11.2%	13.6%
18 to 24	21.8%	6.6%
25 to 34	17.1%	10.1%
35 to 44	9.8%	21.0%
45 to 54	11.3%	14.2%
55 to 64	12.4%	8.3%
65 to 74	7.7%	13.7%
75 and over	6.5%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Salem	Shinnston
White (non-Hispanic)	93.7%	86.8%
Black or African American	2.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.0%	6.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.2%	5.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Salem	Shinnston
No high school diploma	11.3%	5.1%
High school graduate	47.1%	33.5%
Some college or associate's	23.3%	40.1%
Bachelor's degree	9.7%	17.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	3.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Salem	Shinnston
Drove alone	78.9%	76.8%
Carpooled	7.8%	9.6%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	11.4%	5.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.4%	4.8%
Other means	0.0%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Salem	Shinnston
1-unit, detached	70.5%	76.9%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	2.0%	8.2%
5 to 19 units	10.8%	7.9%
20 or more units	9.4%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	6.1%

Poverty & households

	Salem	Shinnston
Poverty rate	16.6%	15.2%
Average household size	2.34	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	21	23
Median year structure built	1949	1955