Ranked 123rd of 387 metropolitan areas in the United States, Salem, OR counts 438,906 residents. A count of the local trades and a read on where advertising is contested and where it is open.
The median household in Salem, OR earns $78,900 a year, in line with the national figure (the US median is $80,734). For housing, the median value is $424,100, 27 percent above the national figure. For a business that sells to homeowners, that combination sets the ceiling on what a job is worth.
A labor force of 215,009 carries an unemployment rate of 5.4%, about the same as the US share. Among adults 25 and over, 27.1% have at least a bachelor's degree, 9 points below the US share. Homeownership is 62.8% here, 2 points below the US share; that is the pool of people who hire roofers, plumbers and landscapers rather than calling a landlord. Residents skew younger than the national median: 37.5 years, 1.4 years below the national median.
How does that compare with the state as a whole? Income in Salem, OR is 5 percent lower than the Oregon figure, the median home value is 11 percent lower than the Oregon figure, and business density is 15 percent thinner than the Oregon figure; the full numbers are on the Oregon page.
The business base: 10,763 establishments with employees. Set against the population that is 24.5 per 1,000 residents, in line with the national figure, against 25 nationally. The single largest category in the table below is restaurants, with 782 locations. 683 of them are home-services contractors, 6.3% of everything, 2 points above the US share.
| Trade | Establishments | Per 100,000 residents | vs US mix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 26 | 5.9 | 2.18× |
| Self-storage facilities | 33 | 7.5 | 1.38× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 37 | 8.4 | 1.23× |
| Automobile dealers | 63 | 14.4 | 1.04× |
| Beauty salons | 64 | 14.6 | 0.59× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 75 | 17.1 | 1.36× |
| General automotive repair | 89 | 20.3 | 0.81× |
| Roofing contractors | 95 | 21.6 | 2.89× |
| Electrical contractors | 103 | 23.5 | 0.96× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 122 | 27.8 | 0.85× |
| General freight trucking | 131 | 29.8 | 0.87× |
| Child day care services | 141 | 32.1 | 1.33× |
| Personal care services (all) | 146 | 33.3 | 0.71× |
| Dentists | 151 | 34.4 | 0.86× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 160 | 36.5 | 1.24× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 182 | 41.5 | 1.04× |
| Physicians' offices | 183 | 41.7 | 0.65× |
| Legal services | 220 | 50.1 | 0.94× |
| Landscaping services | 251 | 57.2 | 1.65× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 782 | 178.2 | 0.98× |
The last column divides the local share of establishments by the national share (1.00 = the same mix as the US).
More common here than nationally: roofing contractors, road and paving contractors, landscaping services and self-storage operators. The sharpest example is roofing contractors: 95 establishments, 2.9 times the share seen nationally. On the other side, beauty salons, physicians' offices, personal care services and general automotive repair are thin: fewer establishments per resident than the US pattern. Beauty salons are the clearest gap with 64 establishments, about 59% of the share they hold across the US. In line with the country: electrical contractors, automobile dealers and dentists.
Per resident the densest are restaurants at 178.2 per 100,000 people, then landscaping services and legal services. The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 782 establishments, then landscaping services (251) and legal services (220). By sector, the home-services trades are the most over-represented at 1.3 times the US share; medical and dental practices are the least, at about 73% of.
In roofing contractors, road and paving contractors and landscaping services the question is not whether to advertise but how narrowly: the tighter the keywords, the towns and the offer, the less is wasted against the crowd. With beauty salons, physicians' offices and personal care services in short supply, the map pack often has room; a complete listing and a handful of recent reviews can put a business in it. The population is younger than the national median (1.4 years below the national median), which raises the value of Instagram, streaming and AI-answer visibility next to search.
The services that fit this market, given the numbers above. Each links to the full description.
Facebook and Instagram campaigns aimed at the households in Salem, OR most likely to need the service.
Review generation and monitoring across Google and the other places people check.
Search campaigns built around the searches people in Salem, OR actually type, with the geography fenced to where the work is.
Keeping the Business Profile complete, current and answered so it earns the map placement.
Site structure, pages and citations that earn organic placement in Salem, OR.
A clean, fast site with one job: make the call happen.
Salem, OR has 438,906 residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 123rd of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Salem, OR is $78,900 (ACS 2024 5-year), below the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 10,763 employer establishments in Salem, OR (County Business Patterns 2023), or 24.5 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Salem, OR is $424,100, and 62.8% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), roofing contractors, road and paving contractors and landscaping services have more establishments per resident than the US average; beauty salons, physicians' offices and personal care services have fewer in Salem, OR.
A short call, a free audit of your current listing and site, and a plan built on what actually competes in this market.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.