Salem, South Carolina.
Typical home $562,211 (+3.6% in a year). Seneca, SC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,860 (+170%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $19,588 +4%
- $542,623$562,211 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $142,083 +34%
- $420,128$562,211 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$2,951
- South Carolina$1,597
- 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, SC rose 3.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Salem, Oconee County, South Carolina
Salem is a town of 120 people in Oconee County. Unemployment in Oconee County was 4.2% in August 2026, and the county had 1.8% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Oconee County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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 town in Oconee County, in the northwestern corner of South Carolina, where the land rises toward the Blue Ridge foothills. Winters are cold, with snow that comes lightly and rarely, and summers are warm. Rain falls heavily through the year, so the weather is wet as well as mild.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in manufacturing, in professional and business services, or in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Jobs across Oconee County grew slightly over the past year. Few people work from home, so most residents travel out each day to reach their jobs.
Things to do. Devils Fork State Park, a protected area a short drive away, offers walks and time outdoors. Issaqueena Falls, also a short drive off, is a waterfall that makes a pleasant outing. Memorial Stadium in Clemson, a longer drive away, is a college football stadium for those who enjoy the sport.
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- 27 mintypical commute
- 4%work from home
What people in Oconee County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Oconee County had 25,929 jobs in 2025, 1.8% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 48° and lows near 26°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 59°. About 4 inches of snow and 87 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Jocassee Wnw weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Oconee County
- Oconee 01 SchoolsSchool district1,721FTE
- Duke EnergyNuclear electric power generation1,037
- Oconee Memorial HospitalGeneral hospital667FTE
- Schneider ElectricArmature relays manufacturing640
- Oconee County GovernmentGeneral services departments, government583
- BASF MetalsPrecious metals recovering from scrap and/or alloying purchased metals359
- Jtekt Bearings North AmercaRaces, ball or roller bearings, manufacturing350
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters335
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 51 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 8,557 people in all across the county; Salem has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively 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 high. 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 Oconee County and the Seneca, SC 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$562,211
- South Carolina$304,319
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 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.
- Salem31.84%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Salem94
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Salem14
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.