Salem, New Jersey.
Typical home $233,458 (+0.3% in a year), asking rent $1,650 . Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$778 (+174%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $718 +0%
- $232,740$233,458 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $58,591 +34%
- $174,867$233,458 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Salem$1,225
- New Jersey$3,019
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Salem, NJ rose 0.3% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Salem, Salem County, New Jersey
Salem is a city of 5,296 people in Salem County. 35% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 65% are rented. Unemployment in Salem County was 6.1% in August 2026, and the county had 2.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Salem is a small city in southwestern New Jersey with a long history as a river-country town. Its residents are younger than the typical American town's, and most homes are rented rather than lived in by their owners. Incomes are lower than across Salem County, and a good share of residents live below the poverty line. Winters are cold, with highs near freezing at times in January, some snow, and plenty of rain across the year, while July brings warm summer days.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by restaurants, hotels and entertainment, shops, and transport, warehouses and utilities. Across Salem County, some of the largest workplaces are PSEG Power Nuclear, Amazon and the Pennsville School District. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and a typical commute is a fairly short drive each way. Unemployment across the county has eased compared with a year ago, and the county has added jobs.
Things to do. The Delaware River is a short drive away, and so are the old forts Fort Casimir and Fort Delaware, for those who like history. For a museum, the Delaware Art Museum is a longer drive off. Football and baseball fans can also make a longer trip to Lincoln Financial Field or Citizens Bank Park.
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- 2,386households
- 15%of adults have a degree
- 25%below the poverty line
- 29 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Salem County had 22,148 jobs in 2025, 2.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 41° and lows near 26°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 68°. About 20 inches of snow and 45 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Wilmington New Castle County Airport weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Salem County
- PSEG Power Nuclear1,361
- AmazonGeneral warehousing and storage999
- WalmartGeneral warehousing and storage445
- Pennsville School DistrictSchool district357FTE
- Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School DistrictSchool district343FTE
- Pittsgrove Township School DistrictSchool district343FTE
- R. E. Pierson Construction CompanyConstruction management, highway, road, street and bridge286
- Last BrandGeneral warehousing and storage271
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 56 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 6,784 people in all across the county; Salem has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Coastal floodingVery high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Ice stormsrelatively high in parts of SalemRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherrelatively high in parts of SalemRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Salem’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Salem County and the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro.
Salem home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Salem$233,458
- New Jersey$575,123
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Salem listings — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Salem25.29%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Salem63
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Salem11
Zip codes with a Salem address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Salem — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.