Zip Codes in Salem, OR (Portland, Keizer: high crime, cheap home, neighborhoods)

[gusandkim]

Can any one recommend a good neighboor hood in salem oregon??

I am hoping someone that lives in the area could tell me some Zip codes?

my husband will be working in the zip code 97303 but i am not sure how good of a neighboorhood that will be. i dont want to be too close to a downtown party life, but shopping is a big convience in my life such as department stores and grocery store hopefully minutes away. i am not much of the country type. my husband and i plan to take a trip the weekend of january 26 and i want to keep in mind the neighboorhoods to look into rather than basing it on looks and not on convience. me and my husband have 2 daugher so i would love to move into a part of town that isnt too expenise but reasonable 150,000-250,000 for an older house but i will want a clean neighboorhood (i know it may be alot to ask) but i dont want to live around constant gun shots, gangs and Drugs. i want my kids to be able to go outside without having to watch there every step if you know what i mean

[crlow]

i currently work in salem, but i am unaware of the zip codes. However, I can tell you that west salem and south salem are the only good places to live. If you look on a map you want to stay west of 1-5. West salem has more expensive housing and new, but the only disadvantage is the only way into salem is the bridge over the river, which every once in a while becomes very backed up.

[DocOregon]

I grew up in NE Salem (lived in Sacramento a couple years too). There are also great neighborhoods in Salem that are east of I-5. The primary ZIP codes in the Salem area are 97303 (North Salem & Keizer), 97305 (Brooks and NE Salem north of Sunnyview Road), 97301 (central Salem, Four Corners and E Salem north to about Sunnyview Road), 97302 (inner South Salem area), 97306 (outer South Salem area), and 97304 (West Salem). Best of luck!

[hawaiime]

Salem doesn't present a lot of high crime, shootings or excessive nightlife. It also allows relatively close access to any shopping you wish; if not, the I-5 corridor , near the 97303, lends itself easily to the PDX network. I lived in Salem some 15 years, found the area east, past the "city limits", to be rural w/ some nice older homes, especially toward the Silverton area NE of Salem. Stay clear , I would of the 4 corners area due to the odor from the mushroom plant and streets with poor access in and out. The 303 zip close to the downtown core has many older homes in not so good shape, but passing out further north into Keizer, there are many nice neighborhoods, older and new. South and west are certainly desirable, but home prices are higher as a result. Watch out for 302 (301?) near the 12th street SE area for poorer neighborhoods and late night train noise, although like north, there are pockets of fine homes, look up the hill from Commercial street for some classy older homes. Going way out south , past Kuebler road gets many newer neighborhoods, and the by pass Kuebler does get you around the city, but is prone to congestion like the bridge into West Salem.

[bobmulk]

Mushroom plant has been gone for several years so it's no longer a consideration. I live in NE in a very desirable neighborhood and the average home is probably around $230K.

[Silverfall]

First of all there really aren't gun shots and lots of gang issues here in Salem. We do have quite a bit of petty theft (car break-ins are a real problem here lately)

Zip 97303 is the Keizer zip code that incorporates part of the Northgate Salem area. Keizer is fine, but you won't want to live in Nortgate area.

In Keizer, there are several nice areas to look for homes. Gubser is a great elementary school and you could find homes in the price range you are looking for. Clear Lake is farther North and has mostly newer construction homes. You could find a smaller ranch home in that neighborhood in your price range as well. Clear Lake doesn't get quite the ratings that Gubser gets, but I think with the demographic shift of wealth into the school, that will change.

Other posters are correct in that you want to really stick south and west for the best schools, neighborhoods, and resale. It also means you will be purchasing a home in the $200-$250,000 range. No decent cheap homes in these areas. So if you are pulling homes off the internet you want 97303 for Keizer, 97306,97302, and 97304. Salem is not big and takes about 20 minutes to go from down south to Keizer which is north.

In central Salem there is nice pocket neighborhood called Englewood, which is older homes. It is in 97301 zip code. You could afford a smaller home in that neighborhood.

There also is an area NE called Jan Ree that has a lot of newer development and that area is improving as well. That neighborhood is in 97305.

The 4 corners area mentioned before is now in zip 97317. It has experienced a decline in some areas, so I would just be cautious about out there, and you might want to look at some recent crime stats. I haven't looked lately but I think crime is up in that area.

Everything is pretty close here. Keizer has a new development called Keizer station, which has several shops going in. You'll see it when you visit; you can't miss it. There really isnt any downtown partying going on here. Salem is VERY FAMILY ORIENTED, so single folks tend to move to Portland since we are sooooo boring here. That also leads to a serious lack of decent restaurants in town, but you can't have everything.

Here is a link to the neighborhood Guide (broken link)put out by the Statesman Journal. It has some really good information about each of the neighborhood areas. They also put out Your Town (broken link) which talks about some of the smaller surrounding towns.

Hope this helps! Salem is a good family city. I think you'll like it here.

[jayriggity]

Salem is all about "pockets." Every zip code has nice pockets and bad pockets. 302 has the bush park area which is great. 301 has fairmount and candalaria, both excellent neighborhoods. I hear good things about englewood up north, but as a general rule, I avoid all of north salem. I also avoid anything even close to lancaster, but I'm sure it has its nice pockets as well.

overall, bush park/candalaria/fairmount is my favorite part of town. if you don't like older homes, far south and west are both very nice but have newer houses and higher prices.