A typical Salem home is worth roughly $232,000
What kind of housing town is Salem?
Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.
What it takes to buy in Salem
Try your own numbers below.
That covers a typical Salem home, with $48K to spare.
A two-bedroom rents for about $960 a month here, $650 less than owning.
An estimate, not a loan offer: payments of up to 28% of income, a 30-year fixed loan, the Illinois typical property tax (2.01% of value a year, from the Census) and insurance of about 0.35%. Mortgage insurance, HOA fees and other debts aren’t included.
81% of Salem households own their home
Half of Salem’s homes were built before 1953.
Illinois: 67% own.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 · figures for a place this size carry wide margins of error.
A two-bedroom rents for about $960
Fair Market Rent a month, utilities included
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents by ZIP code (Carroll County, IL): the 40th-percentile rent plus utilities for a standard unit. Median rent and renters: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
Salem vs. its neighbors
Salem is the 2nd priciest of 6 neighboring towns. Tap one to see its housing page.
Compare more
| Town | Typical value | 1-yr change | 2-bed rent | New homes 2025 | Median income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | $232K* | — | $960 | — | $60,192 |
| Mount Carroll | $155K | +12.4% | $940 | — | $53,558 |
| Fairhaven | $103K* | — | $1,100 | — | $72,981 |
| Freedom | $323K* | — | $920 | — | $85,938 |
| Mount Carroll | $87K* | — | $920 | 0 | $58,500 |
| Rock Creek-Lima | $103K* | — | $930 | — | $68,056 |
Typical value: Zillow Home Value Index; * Census median home value where Zillow has none. † FHFA price index change where Zillow has none. Rent: HUD Fair Market Rent. New homes: Census building permits.
Neighbors talk housing
What Salem buyers, sellers and renters are saying.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), Zillow Research. Sales, days on market and supply: Redfin Data Center. Income, ownership, taxes and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. Fair Market Rents: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Listings link to their publishers. The calculator is an estimate, not a loan offer.