Salem Lakes, Wisconsin

Area Profile

14,366 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Salem Lakes, in Kenosha County.

74out of 100
Area Score
Top 10% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 8% of 3,904 published cities79
SchoolsTop 44% of 2,668 published cities56
Growth1990th of 2,973 published cities41
Housing affordabilityTop 16% of 4,223 published cities96
Climate3530th of 4,223 published cities60
Physical resilienceTop 1% of 4,182 published cities99
Access3408th of 4,226 published cities78
Economic stabilityTop 27% of 4,226 published cities71
The quick read

Salem Lakes ranks in the top 8% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.6% and median household income of $94,819.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 15% of median household income and the median home is 3.3 times it.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Salem Lakes in the top 1% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
14,366
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$94,819
Top 22% nationally
Density
473/sq mi
30.4 sq mi of land
Median age
43.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kenosha County
Wisconsin
Metro area
Kenosha, WI
Nearest major airport
ORD
40 mi · Chicago O'Hare Intl
Median home value
$316,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 80% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 1.2% over the past year, to 93,817 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,161$94,819Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,300$47,885Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate6.6%Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute32.9 minTop 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher27.1%Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment93,817Top 40%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.6%Top 17%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.2%Top 12%June 2026
Labor force97,371Top 40%June 2026
Labor force participation68.8%Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,490Bottom 16%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,310Bottom 24%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.1%Top 47%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.6%Bottom 20%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202495k83k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $94,819 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Kenosha, WI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand5,420$46,990
Stockers and Order Fillers2,530$46,030
Retail Salespersons2,280$33,580
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,120$29,070
Cashiers1,870$32,380
Registered Nurses1,730$83,110

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Kenosha County, WI, which contains this city.

45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 40% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.8 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
45.1%
Top 37% in Wisconsin
Reading proficiency
39.6%
Top 49% in Wisconsin
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Central HighWestosha Central UHS School District1,30918.7
Salem ElementarySalem School District93614.633%32%
Wilmot HighWilmot UHS School District84016.2
Trevor-Wilmot GradeTrevor-Wilmot Consolidated School District45512.351%44%
Riverview ElementarySilver Lake J1 School District44915.064%51%

22.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Wisconsin’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,184 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
15.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,184
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$316,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.33Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate83.2%Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2856,191Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$62$1,184Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$19,233$316,100Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.0%Bottom 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.7%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
41/ 100
Ranks 1990 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, reaching 14,302 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
11
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.8
Bottom 26% nationally
Year over year
+10%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202415k14k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025197.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−63%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 31.9 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 41, in the Good band, and about 11 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station KENOSHA RGNL AP, 10.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index65.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation31.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100112024 calendar year
Median air quality index41.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing49°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
41
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
65
90th percentile index
Days above 100
11
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

99 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, heat wave and hail.

LightningModerate
TornadoModerate
HailModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, strong wind, inland flooding, earthquake, drought, ice storm, coastal flooding, wildfire, landslide, winter weather, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Kenosha County records 2.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 11.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.7 per 100,000 residents in Kenosha County.

Homicide
2.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
11.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Kenosha County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Salem Lakes rather than Salem Lakes itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 40 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD40 mi11,245 ft
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY73 mi8,859 ft
Dane County Rgnl/Truax FldMSN74 mi9,006 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
74
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Other cities in Kenosha, WI

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
KenoshaKenosha County99,37266vs Salem Lakes
Pleasant PrairieKenosha County21,66983vs Salem Lakes

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Salem Lakes

3 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
531689,036$97,03577
531796,469$94,46076
531702,134$79,93174