Sell Your Commercial Property In Salem, OR

Who rents in Salem, OR

Renters occupy 44.1% of Salem's 67,629 occupied housing units, per the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey tenure table. That works out to 29,817 renter households. Marion County's renter share is 37.7%, and Oregon's is 36.7%, in the same survey.

Salem had 178,865 residents in the 2020-2024 American Community Survey, against 349,244 in Marion County. Keizer, which shares the Salem-Keizer school district, has a renter share of 37.1% across 14,782 occupied homes, per its ACS 2020-2024 tenure table.

Public payrolls carry much of the demand. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Salem economy page counted 45.2 thousand government jobs in the Salem metro in September 2026, a preliminary figure. Those jobs equal 23.9% of the metro's 188.8 thousand nonfarm jobs that month.

Health care is the second anchor. Salem Health describes itself as the mid-Willamette Valley's largest private employer, with more than 6,441 employees, on its Salem Hospital fast-facts page. Salem Hospital has 644 acute-care beds and recorded 92,749 emergency visits in 2025.

Rents and affordability in Salem

Median gross rent in Salem was $1,400 a month in the 2020-2024 American Community Survey rent table. Marion County's median was $1,414, and Oregon's was $1,525. Portland's median gross rent was $1,655 in the same survey, or $255 more than Salem's.

Median household income in Salem was $75,487 in the ACS 2020-2024 income table, against $77,351 in Marion County and $83,011 statewide. Salem renters paying 30% or more of income on rent total 53.5%, per the ACS rent-burden table. Renters paying 50% or more total 28.2%.

Under HUD's FY2027 fair market rents, the two-bedroom standard for the Salem, OR MSA is $1,692 a month. HUD applies that schedule to both Marion County and Polk County. The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro two-bedroom standard is $1,878, or $186 higher.

Salem's FY2027 two-bedroom standard sits $292 above its $1,400 all-unit median gross rent. Owners with older, below-median leases should compare each unit against this schedule before setting a 2027 increase.

Salem's apartment stock and building age

Salem has 16,442 homes in buildings of five or more units, 23.1% of its 71,124 housing units, per the ACS 2020-2024 units-in-structure table. The comparable share is 17.5% in Marion County and 17.8% statewide.

Small and mid-size properties hold most of that supply. Salem buildings of 5 to 9 units contain 5,678 homes, and 10-to-19-unit buildings contain 4,597. Larger complexes hold less: 2,820 units sit in 20-to-49-unit buildings and 3,347 in buildings of 50 or more.

Salem's median housing unit was built in 1980, per the ACS 2020-2024 median year built table. Homes built before 1980 make up 49.7% of Salem's stock, per the year-built table. Only 8,806 units, or 12.4%, date from 2010 or later.

Salem's rental vacancy rate was 4.7% in the ACS 2020-2024 housing profile. Marion County's rate was 4.4%, and Oregon's was 4.2%. For anyone selling commercial property in Salem, a sub-5% vacancy rate lets buyers underwrite close to in-place occupancy.

Property taxes in Marion County, with a $2 million example

Salem's Marion County tax code area 24010 carries a 2026-27 composite rate of 20.5117 per $1,000 of assessed value. That figure comes from the Marion County Assessor's 2026 Tax Rate by Incorporated City report. Keizer's code area 24200 is 16.8747 for the same year.

Two districts make up most of Salem's rate. Salem's city levy is 8.0015 and the Salem-Keizer school district levy is 7.1593, per the 2026-27 Summary of Assessment Roll. Marion County's own levy is 3.0252.

Oregon taxes the lesser of real market value or maximum assessed value, under ORS 308.146. Maximum assessed value equals 103% of the prior year's assessed value, or the prior maximum if that is greater. New improvements, partitions, rezoning, omitted property and lost exemptions are calculated separately.

On $2,000,000 of assessed value in code area 24010, the 2026-27 rate produces $41,023.40 a year. ORS 310.150 limits non-bond school taxes to $5 per $1,000 of real market value. Other non-bond government taxes are limited to $10, so compression can reduce some bills.

Petitions to the property value appeals board must be filed by December 31, under ORS 309.100. ORS 306.815 bars Oregon local governments from new real property transfer taxes unless operative on March 31, 1997. Lenders underwrite from the tax statement, so owners who plan to sell commercial property in Salem, OR should pull it before pricing.

Landlord rules in Salem and Oregon

Oregon's maximum rent increase is 9.5% for 2026 and 10% for 2027, per the Office of Economic Analysis rent stabilization page. The ORS 90.324 formula is 7% plus CPI, capped at 10%. ORS 91.225 bars any Oregon city or county from enacting rent control, so Salem cannot adopt its own.

ORS 90.323 blocks any increase in a tenancy's first year and allows one increase per 12 months. Each increase needs 90 days' written notice stating the amount and the new rent. Units with a first certificate of occupancy under 15 years old are exempt from the cap.

A landlord who exceeds the cap owes three months' rent plus actual damages, under ORS 90.323. After the first year of occupancy, ORS 90.427 allows termination only for tenant cause or a qualifying landlord reason. Qualifying reasons include demolition, conversion, major repairs and a sale to a buyer who will live in the unit.

A qualifying-reason notice generally runs 90 days and must come with one month's rent. ORS 90.427 waives that payment only for owners of four or fewer units, so an owner of a 5+ unit Salem building owes it.

ORS 90.300 requires a written accounting of any deposit claim within 31 days after the tenancy ends and the tenant delivers possession. Whoever holds the landlord's interest when the tenancy ends answers for the deposit. Owners looking to sell commercial real estate in Salem, OR should hand buyers a clean deposit ledger.

Oregon nonpayment notices under ORS 90.394 run at least 10 days when served on the eighth day of the rental period. A notice served on the fifth day must give 13 days.

What it means for an owner in Salem

A 9.5% rent cap, a 20.5117 tax rate in code area 24010 and a 1980 median build year frame a Salem apartment sale in 2026. Salem's $1,400 median rent, $255 below Portland's, is the city's core affordability argument.

Owners who want to sell commercial property in Salem, OR can test a price first in our cap rate calculator. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit apartment buildings across Salem, Keizer, West Salem, South Salem and Northeast Salem.

Buildings with deferred roofs, older panels or below-market rents are welcome. To sell multifamily property in Salem without a public listing, send the rent roll and address through our apartment seller page.