Russell County vs Salem city

A side-by-side comparison of Russell County and Salem city: population, income, housing, and more.

Russell County and Salem city are counties in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Russell County has the higher population (25,635 vs 25,477 in Salem city). Salem city has the higher median household income ($66,716 vs $49,020 in Russell County). Salem city has the higher median home value ($244,800 vs $119,600 in Russell County).

Population, income & housing

	Russell County	Salem city
Population	25,635	25,477
Median age	46.5 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$49,020	$66,716
Median home value	$119,600	$244,800
Median gross rent	$682	$1,046
Housing units	12,772	11,096
Homeownership rate	75.8%	63.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.1%	31.1%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Russell County	Salem city
Population	27,141 → 25,635 (-5.5%)	25,317 → 25,477 (+0.6%)
Median household income	$39,758 → $49,020 (+23.3%)	$57,165 → $66,716 (+16.7%)
Median home value	$98,000 → $119,600 (+22.0%)	$181,900 → $244,800 (+34.6%)
Median gross rent	$582 → $682 (+17.2%)	$913 → $1,046 (+14.6%)

Russell County

Population

27,14125,635

Median household income

$39,758$49,020

Median home value

$98,000$119,600

Median gross rent

$582$682

Salem city

Population

25,31725,477

Median household income

$57,165$66,716

Median home value

$181,900$244,800

Median gross rent

$913$1,046

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Russell County	Salem city
Under 5	4.8%	4.1%
5 to 17	13.9%	14.9%
18 to 24	7.1%	13.3%
25 to 34	10.8%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.2%	11.8%
45 to 54	13.4%	11.9%
55 to 64	15.8%	13.2%
65 to 74	13.8%	11.2%
75 and over	9.2%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Russell County	Salem city
White (non-Hispanic)	96.8%	82.4%
Black or African American	1.2%	7.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.1%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.9%
Two or more races	0.8%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	4.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Russell County	Salem city
No high school diploma	16.6%	5.8%
High school graduate	39.9%	28.5%
Some college or associate's	29.4%	34.5%
Bachelor's degree	9.7%	18.0%
Graduate or professional degree	4.4%	13.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Russell County	Salem city
Drove alone	79.4%	76.8%
Carpooled	14.2%	7.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	1.8%	5.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.8%	9.5%
Other means	0.8%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Russell County	Salem city
1-unit, detached	71.7%	71.2%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	1.7%	13.2%
20 or more units	0.6%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	21.9%	2.9%

Poverty & households

	Russell County	Salem city
Poverty rate	18.1%	10.9%
Average household size	2.41	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	28	19
Median year structure built	1979	1971