What salary do you need to live in Salem, OR?

Rent, home values and prices in Salem

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Salem, OR metro at $1,062 for a one-bedroom, $1,394 for a two-bedroom and $1,773 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $332 a month, and the third bedroom another $379.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Salem, OR at $424,100. With median household income at $78,900, a typical home costs 5.4× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 103.6, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 3.6% more than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $96,479 would at average US prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Salem

The salary lines for a two-bedroom household land at $58,000 for Tight, $115,000 for Okay and $232,000 for Comfortable. The gap between the Okay and Comfortable lines alone is $117,000, which says how much extra income it takes to make housing feel roomy here rather than merely workable.

The Royal grade is within reach at $709,000 a year, where both rent and the median home price look small next to income.

How they were found: the same scoring function the calculator runs was evaluated at rising incomes until each cutoff was crossed, and the crossing rounded up to a whole $1,000.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Salem

Choosing a bigger place in Salem at $75,000 trims the score from 37 to 29 without leaving Tight.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 11% of income.

Salem on the national list

Ranked against all 387 metros, Salem sits 39th on overall price level and 99th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 64th.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Waterbury-Shelton, CT ($1,395) and Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC ($1,394).

Salem next to Oregon and similar metros

Compared with Oregon as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Salem is 8% lower ($1,394 vs. $1,523) and the median home is 11% lower ($424,100 vs. $477,600).

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $255,000, so Salem needs $23,000 less than Oregon overall.

Within Oregon, the metros closest to Salem on rent and overall prices are Corvallis, OR, Eugene-Springfield, OR, and Medford, OR. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $260,000, $220,000, and $216,000.

Does the typical Salem income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $78,900, which grades Tight (34) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $153,100 more than the median household earns. For Oregon as a whole, the median household income of $83,011 scores 33 against statewide rents. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

All figures are pre-tax estimates from public data, not financial advice.