While the median household income in Salinas remains near the national median at $50,165, the median home price in the city has risen to $560,600. The large discrepency between household income levels and the median home price is largely due to the recent surge in house prices, that affected coastal California in an espcially strong manner. Between 2004 and 2005 alone home prices within the city rose by 23.3%.  The city has seen double digit growth in its median home prices each consecutive year since 2000, which becomes appearant when comparing 2005 home prices to those from the year 2000. During the 2000 US Census, the median asking price for a home was $229,000.  Since then home prices have risen by $326,000 or 142% to being in excess of a half-million dollars. Household income, however, only rose a relatively modest 16.27%. Today Salinas has a far higher median home price than considerably more affluent communities such Bellevue, Washington with a median home price of $405,000 and a median household income of $88,432, more than double that of Salinas. Overall the city's median household income remains a mere 8.6% above the national median of $46,000, the median home price has risen to 232.68% above the national median of $167,500.

Salinas is known as the Salad Bowl of America or Salad Bowl of the World. Over 80% of the lettuce grown in the United States is grown in the Salinas Valley. According to the 2000 US Census, 24% of the population worked in sales and office occupations, 21.4% worked in management, professional, and related occupations, 16.2% worked in service occupations, 14.9% worked in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations, 14.4% worked in production, transportation, and material moving occupations, and 9.1% worked in construction, extraction, and maintenance occupations.