The 10 Best Salem Suburbs To Live In For 2023


The best Salem suburbs are Lafayette and Millersburg for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

While big cities like Salem offer culture, cuisine, and charisma, they also deliver terrible traffic, towering expenses, and a taxing quality of life.

With that in mind, we wanted to uncover the best suburbs around Salem. These burbs have all of the benefits of being near Salem without actually having to be in the city.

Of course, not all suburbs of Salem are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones. Using Saturday Night Science, we delve into the factors that matter most, from commutes and housing costs to community vibes, to help you uncover the perfect suburban spots in the Greater Salem area.

Here are the 10 best suburbs to live around Salem for 2023:

  1. Lafayette
  2. Millersburg
  3. Sublimity
  4. Newberg
  5. Dundee
  6. Canby
  7. Turner
  8. Molalla
  9. Wilsonville
  10. Silverton

What’s the best suburb of Salem? Lafayette ranks as the best suburb of Salem for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data. If you happen to be a resident of Lafayette, you’re probably not too surprised to find it on the top our list.

We’ll tell you what makes each of these 10 Salem ‘burbs better than the rest–but first, a bit about our methodology.

Feel free to check out some more reading about Oregon:


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Best Salem Suburbs To Live For 2023

Lafayette, OR

Source: Wikipedia User M.O. Stevens | CC BY 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 4,369
Median Income: $84,159
Unemployment Rate: 1.4%
Poverty Rate: 8.3%
More on Lafayette: Data | Real Estate

Lafayette is always mentioned as one of the best suburbs in the Salem area. We’ll tell you the good about “Awesome Lafayette.”

Everyone here is rich; families average $84,159 a year, which is the 5th highest in the Salem region. And only 1.42% are out of work. Homes average more than $278,300 each.

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,813
Median Income: $109,263
Unemployment Rate: 4.3%
Poverty Rate: 3.0%
More on Millersburg: Data | Real Estate

Millersburg is the second best ‘burb we looked at near Salem for 2023.

It ranks 1st for incomes in the area and only 3.47% of residents lack insurance, good for 4th best.

Sublimity, OR

Source: Wikipedia User Finetooth | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,940
Median Income: $75,948
Unemployment Rate: 2.8%
Poverty Rate: 6.1%
More on Sublimity: Data | Real Estate

Here in Sublimity, it’s really safe, and residents are just about as rich as you’ll see in the Salem metro area.

The bad side? Schools are more crowded, and the cost of living puts a large part of the city out of reach for most families.

But price is based on demand and a lot of people want to live in Sublimity.

Newberg, OR

Source: Wikipedia User M.O. Stevens | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 25,108
Median Income: $81,210
Unemployment Rate: 3.3%
Poverty Rate: 8.8%
More on Newberg: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Newberg ranks as the 4th best suburb of Salem for 2023.

You won’t find many better places to raise your kids in the region than in Newberg and the schools are some of the best around.

Dundee, OR

Source: Wikipedia User M.O. Stevens | CC BY 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,237
Median Income: $95,817
Unemployment Rate: 5.1%
Poverty Rate: 2.5%
More on Dundee: Data | Real Estate

Coming in as the fifth best is Dundee.

Dundee gets kudos for having the 5th most expensive homes in the Salem area, where houses sell for an average of $376,600. However, the cost of living here is among the highest in the area.

Canby, OR

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 18,078
Median Income: $83,948
Unemployment Rate: 2.8%
Poverty Rate: 9.2%
More on Canby: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Canby is proud of its 6th place finish on this list. And here’s why.

Most residents have great jobs and the unemployment rate sits at 2.84%.

According to online reports, Canby is quickly becoming one of the more affluent suburbs in the Salem area, meaning you need to get in soon.

Turner, OR

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,306
Median Income: $89,648
Unemployment Rate: 3.4%
Poverty Rate: 4.1%
More on Turner: Data | Crime | Real Estate

The 7th best suburb on our list goes to Turner.

Turner schools are some of the best in the region, and crime is really low. The cost of living makes it a lot more desirable for many families, especially first-time home buyers.

And, it’s only 6.3 miles to downtown, which is a good thing.

Molalla, OR

Source: Wikipedia User Ian Poellet | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 10,060
Median Income: $74,718
Unemployment Rate: 6.0%
Poverty Rate: 8.2%
More on Molalla: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Molalla is growing quickly, and for a good reason. Crime is far below average, and most residents are gainfully employed. Even the cost of living is reasonable.

A solid 4.82% of people lack insurance, good for 10th in the area.

Wilsonville, OR

Source: Wikipedia User M.O. Stevens | CC BY 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 25,887
Median Income: $78,508
Unemployment Rate: 5.7%
Poverty Rate: 9.5%
More on Wilsonville: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Is ‘Everything Better In Wilsonville?’

Almost.

It placed 9th on our list thanks to the fact that it’s really expensive to live here, but the schools are great, so you get what you pay for in that regard.

Silverton, OR

Source: Wikipedia User User:Cacophony | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 10,402
Median Income: $69,612
Unemployment Rate: 6.9%
Poverty Rate: 9.7%
More on Silverton: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

And rounding out the top ten for 2023 is Silverton.

This city is far above average in every category, and the best part? It’s far more affordable than the other cities listed above. So, you get a big bang for your buck here.

Methodology: How We Determined The Best Suburbs Around Salem for 2023

Figuring out the best suburbs around Salem was simple. We used Saturday Night Science to find things people like about living in the suburbs and then locate the suburbs with those things.

We analyzed the newest American Community Survey data for 2017-2021 to research each suburb. We decided upon the following criteria:

  • Low unemployment rate
  • High median household incomes
  • Population density (lots of things to do)
  • High home values
  • A lot of college-educated people
  • Low poverty
  • High rate of insured families

We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Salem.

Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 29 suburbs to evaluate around Salem.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 29 in each category, where 1 was the “best.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.

Finally, we crowned the city with the best quality of life index, the “Best Suburb near Salem.” We’re lookin’ at you, Lafayette.

This result may differ from our state-wide data as we did not include commute times and crime for this analysis to allow for a more extensive selection of suburbs.

We updated the data for 2023. This report is our tenth time ranking the best Salem suburbs. Skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from best to worst.

Summary: Welcome to the Best Salem ‘Burbs of 2023

We said it once, and we’ll say it again–life in the big city isn’t for everyone. At least not all the time.

So if you’re craving the amenities of a larger city like Salem but don’t want to deal with the drawbacks, one of these suburbs might be for you.

For more Oregon reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Best Salem Suburbs

Rank City Population Median Income
1 Lafayette, OR 4,369 $84,159
2 Millersburg, OR 2,813 $109,263
3 Sublimity, OR 2,940 $75,948
4 Newberg, OR 25,108 $81,210
5 Dundee, OR 3,237 $95,817
6 Canby, OR 18,078 $83,948
7 Turner, OR 2,306 $89,648
8 Molalla, OR 10,060 $74,718
9 Wilsonville, OR 25,887 $78,508
10 Silverton, OR 10,402 $69,612
11 Keizer, OR 39,119 $68,460
12 Hubbard, OR 3,422 $80,686
13 Carlton, OR 2,219 $91,367
14 Corvallis, OR 59,407 $58,315
15 Stayton, OR 8,199 $65,813
16 Independence, OR 9,850 $65,019
17 Aumsville, OR 4,193 $67,363
18 Dallas, OR 16,663 $60,511
19 Mcminnville, OR 34,224 $58,692
20 Monmouth, OR 10,735 $54,310
21 Albany, OR 55,776 $65,587
22 Gervais, OR 2,585 $79,375
23 Jefferson, OR 3,329 $75,542
24 Sheridan, OR 4,826 $53,277
25 Mount Angel, OR 3,397 $56,480
26 Dayton, OR 2,672 $68,287
27 Woodburn, OR 25,877 $54,330
28 Lebanon, OR 18,150 $48,889
29 Willamina, OR 2,511 $49,773
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.