Salem, Utah.
Typical home $600,193 (+2.4% in a year). Provo-Orem, UT metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,760 (+127%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $14,197 +2%
- $585,996$600,193 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $84,978 +16%
- $515,214$600,193 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$3,150
- Utah$2,797
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 23 years.
Typical home values in Salem, UT rose 2.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Salem, Utah County, Utah
Salem is a city of 9,298 people in Utah County. Half its households earn more than $111,117 a year and half less, against $100,671 across Utah County; 4% of its people live below the poverty line. 94% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 6% are rented. Unemployment in Utah County was 4.1% in August 2026, and the county had 1.8% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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 city where nearly everyone owns the home they live in, and it is a young place, with a median age well below what many older homeowners might expect. Household incomes run above the county's, and fewer residents live in poverty than you might guess. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while July brings hot days; precipitation across the year is modest.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, and others are in the building trades, professional and business services, and shops. Across Utah County, some of the largest workplaces are Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University and Utah Valley Hospital. A good share of adults hold a four-year degree, and a number of people work from home, while the typical commute is a modest one.
Things to do. Salem Lake, a reservoir in or beside town, is the closest spot for time near the water. A short drive away are the Peteetneet Museum and Cultural Arts Center and the Springville Museum of Art, both museums. For a longer outing, Timpanogos Cave National Monument is a protected area a longer drive away.
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- 2,970households
- 39%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
- 24 mintypical commute
- 14%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Utah County had 300,580 jobs in 2025, 1.8% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 38° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 93° and lows near 61°. About 66 inches of snow and 20 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Spanish Fk Pwr House weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Utah County
- Brigham Young UniversityUniversity or college5,488
- Utah Valley UniversityUniversity or college4,001
- Utah Valley HospitalGeneral hospital2,274FTE
- Utah CountyExecutive and legislative office combinations1,915
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsChurches1,775
- RBM ServicesBuilding cleaning services, janitorial1,677
- doTERRA InternationalIn-home sales of merchandise, direct selling1,116
- Nestle USAFrozen dinners manufacturing1,092
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 327 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 74,683 people in all across the county; Salem has one of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (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
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- AvalanchesRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively 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 low. 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 Utah County and the Provo-Orem, UT 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$600,193
- Utah$532,920
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Salem listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
- Salem26.68%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Salem93
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Salem23
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.