Salem is a city in northern Columbiana County, Ohio, United States.

[5] It extends into southern Mahoning County and is the principal city of the Salem micropolitan area.

[6] Salem was founded by Quakers in 1806 and played a key role in the abolitionist movement as a hub of the Underground Railroad.

Salem was founded by a New Jersey clockmaker, Zadok Street, and a Pennsylvanian potter, John Straughan, in 1806.

The name Salem itself is a biblical derivative of Jerusalem in the Middle East, which means "city of peace".

[10] Radio DJ Alan Freed was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Salem.

[11] Advantageously located between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Salem thrived on an industrial-based economy.

Today, American Standard, a Fresh Mark, Inc meat production facility,[13] and several tool-and-die manufacturers remain.

[14] A local group of the Progressive Friends, an association of Quakers who separated from the main body partly to be freer to work for such causes as abolitionism and women's rights, formed in Salem in 1849.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 6.43 square miles (16.65 km2), all land.

Other actions to spur economic development undertaken around the same time annexed specific land: in 1999, 82.24 acres (332,800 m2) of Salem Township were granted police and fire protection, snow removal service, and other city services.

According to the Sustainable Opportunity Development Center in Salem,[29] as of 2022, the top employers in the city are: Two sections of the city are designated National Register historic districts: the South Lincoln Avenue Historic District (designated 1993) and the Salem Downtown Historic District (designated 1995), which includes several of the town's monumental and architecturally distinctive homes and businesses.

Other city properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places include the Burchfield Homestead, home to painter Charles E. Burchfield from ages 5 to 28, the John Street House and Daniel Howell Hise House, both Underground Railroad stations, and the First United Methodist Church.

[a] The Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown operates the private St. Paul Elementary School for grades K-6.