Salem, OH, Ohio: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+49%. Republican peak: R+55 in 1928.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+49MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 100,7042024 5-year
- Median household income
- $58,1802024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 92.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 1.9%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+29 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+55 in 1928MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Salem, OH, OHOne cell per constituent county, colored by 2024 presidential margin from deep red (Republican) through neutral to deep blue (Democratic), ordered bluest first.
R+60D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 12,064 | 35,607 | 48,246 | ||
| R | 13,359 | 35,726 | 49,860 | ||
| R | 12,432 | 31,676 | 47,025 | ||
| R | 19,821 | 25,251 | 46,740 | ||
| R | 21,882 | 25,585 | 48,699 | ||
| R | 23,429 | 25,753 | 49,465 | ||
| R | 20,657 | 21,804 | 44,427 | ||
| D | 20,716 | 15,386 | 43,629 | ||
| D | 19,765 | 15,016 | 47,554 | ||
| D | 21,581 | 21,175 | 43,140 | ||
| R | 20,155 | 24,552 | 45,110 | ||
| R | 17,459 | 20,798 | 41,143 | ||
| D | 23,096 | 22,318 | 46,367 | ||
| R | 15,683 | 27,308 | 43,602 | ||
| R | 19,382 | 19,947 | 43,170 | ||
| D | 28,706 | 15,827 | 44,533 | ||
| R | 20,037 | 28,414 | 48,451 | ||
| R | 14,516 | 28,783 | 43,299 | ||
| R | 19,057 | 26,707 | 45,764 | ||
| R | 16,588 | 17,724 | 34,538 | ||
| R | 18,796 | 19,976 | 38,772 | ||
| D | 22,349 | 21,221 | 43,570 | ||
| D | 22,664 | 16,986 | 40,198 | ||
| R | 14,284 | 19,707 | 35,430 | ||
| R | 7,461 | 26,405 | 34,158 | ||
| R | 4,685 | 20,483 | 29,272 | ||
| R | 9,774 | 16,846 | 28,023 | ||
| R | 7,788 | 8,118 | 17,326 | ||
| O | 4,816 | 4,601 | 16,091 | ||
| R | 6,736 | 9,626 | 18,072 | ||
| R | 4,203 | 11,571 | 17,213 | ||
| R | 5,997 | 10,255 | 16,942 | ||
| R | 6,598 | 9,487 | 16,414 | ||
| R | 5,573 | 7,232 | 13,916 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
22.9%
Irish
16.8%
English
14.0%
Italian
8.0%
American
6.9%
Scottish
2.5%
Polish
2.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 44.6 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$58,180
Salem, OH ranks near the middle of US counties.
Salem, OH$58,180
Ohio$71,389
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
15.2%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1822.0%
Working age (18–64)13.6%
Seniors (65+)11.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.4%
speak English only
Spanish0.8%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 66.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Salem anchors a compact industrial corridor in Columbiana County, a consistently Republican-leaning corner of eastern Ohio where deindustrialization and blue-collar identity have driven some of the state's sharpest partisan swings over the past two decades.
The Democratic margin in Salem, OH peaked at twenty-nine points in 1964. By 2000 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was forty-nine points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $58,180 sits well below state and national norms, and 15% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Salem, OH, Ohio — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/41400/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Salem, OH, Ohio vote in 2024?
In 2024, Salem, OH, Ohio voted Republican by 48.8 points (R+49), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 48,246 votes cast, 12,064 went Democratic and 35,607 went Republican.
What is Salem, OH, Ohio's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Salem, OH, Ohio as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 7 times, Republican 26 times, and other 1 times.
When did Salem, OH, Ohio last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Salem, OH, Ohio voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Salem, OH, Ohio?
Salem, OH, Ohio has a population of 100,704 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Salem, OH, Ohio?
Median household income in Salem, OH, Ohio is $58,180 — below the national median of $80,734. The Ohio state median is $71,389.
What is the political history of Salem, OH, Ohio?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Salem, OH, Ohio from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 7 went Democratic and 26 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.