Salem, OR

Neighborhoods & homes in Salem

Where Salem's older houses are, what the newer subdivisions are built from, and the landmarks people use to find their way.

Salem neighborhoods and nearby towns

South Salem

Hillside streets with a mix of mid-century ranches and newer homes, many under tall firs. Shaded north walls and gutters full of needles keep paint damp.

West Salem

Across the Willamette in Polk County, with newer subdivisions on the hills and some older homes near Edgewater Street. Many planned communities have color rules.

Keizer

A separate city north of Salem with lots of 1960s–1990s single-storey homes. Typical requests are full exterior repaints and interior refreshes.

Sunnyslope

A South Salem area of mostly post-war and later houses on sloping lots, which can mean taller back walls and ladder work.

Grant

A close-in neighborhood north of downtown with older wood-sided houses, many built before 1940 and therefore subject to lead-safe rules.

Places Salem homeowners know

Oregon State Capitol

The 1938 Art Deco Capitol with its gilded Oregon Pioneer statue anchors the government district, where many older homes now hold offices.

Riverfront Park

Downtown's riverside park with the Eco Earth Globe and the carousel, next to the pedestrian bridges to West Salem.

Willamette University

Founded in 1842 and often described as the oldest university in the West. The houses around campus include many rentals.

Bush's Pasture Park

A large historic park around the 1878 Bush House Museum, bordered by the Gaiety Hill historic district.

Minto-Brown Island Park

A big riverside park and trail network on the south edge of town. The damp river bottomland is a reminder of how long Salem stays wet.

What Salem houses are built from

1982Median year built
48%Built before 1980
9%Built before 1940
27%Built 2000 or later
46%Renter-occupied

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, via Census Reporter (figures already used on the live site).

Close to half of Salem's homes were built before 1980, so many repaints involve paint layers old enough to contain lead. In Grant, the Court-Chemeketa blocks and around Bush's Pasture Park you will see Craftsman bungalows, foursquares and older Victorians with cedar shingles, lap siding and fir trim.

Further out, the South Salem hills, Sunnyslope and Keizer are mostly ranches and split-levels from the 1960s through the 1990s, often with T1-11 plywood or hardboard siding that soaks up water at the cut edges. The subdivisions built since 2000, many in West Salem, mostly have fiber-cement siding and vinyl windows, which brings a different set of prep questions.

Illustration of a moisture meter on wet siding
Illustration (AI-generated). Not a real project and not work by any painter we refer.

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