Salem, South Dakota.
Typical home $252,319 (+7.6% in a year). Sioux Falls, SD metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$777 (+142%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $17,915 +8%
- $234,403$252,319 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $57,495 +30%
- $194,823$252,319 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$1,324
- South Dakota$1,668
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Salem, SD rose 7.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Salem, McCook County, South Dakota
Salem is a city of 1,325 people in McCook County. 68% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 32% are rented. Unemployment in McCook County was 1.8% in August 2026, and the county had 4.9% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then construction.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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 and the seat of McCook County in eastern South Dakota. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and a smaller share of residents live below the poverty line than is typical across the country. The town has a modest population, so daily life tends to be quiet, with neighbors who know one another.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by the building trades, banks, insurance and property, and shops. Across McCook County, the largest workplaces include Bridgewater-Emery Schools, McCook Central School District and Pipestone. Unemployment across the county is low, and the county has added jobs over the past year.
Things to do. Porter Sculpture Park is the best known nearby attraction, a museum a longer drive away. Diamond Lake and Lake Herman State Park, a protected area, are also a longer drive away and offer time by the water. Winters are cold, with the coldest weather in January, and summers are warm in July, so lake outings suit the warmer months.
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- 518households
- 27%of adults have a degree
- 6%below the poverty line
- 23 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. McCook County had 1,404 jobs in 2025, 4.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 24° and lows near 5°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 60°. About 27 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Salem 5NE weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in McCook County
- Bridgewater-Emery 30-3 SchoolsSchool district54FTE
- McCook Central School District 43-7School district52FTE
- Canistota School District 43-1School district48FTE
- Montrose School District 43-2School district39FTE
- PipestoneAdministrative management and general management consulting services30
- All States Ag PartsLawn maintenance machinery and equipment merchant wholesalers24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 54 people in all across the county; Salem has two 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
- Winter weatherVery high
- TornadoesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- HailVery high
- Ice stormsVery high
- DroughtRelatively high
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, very 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 McCook County and the Sioux Falls, SD 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$252,319
- South Dakota$317,874
- United States$366,157
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Salem10
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
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.