Verified answer

I think there is a big difference.

Salem is the seat of state government and so is comparatively blighted and lacking entrepreneurial spirit as a result. It also seems to be heavily blue collar with corresponding limited breadth in culture. In those respects, it resembles Vancouver, Washington.

Eugene is partly regional hub city and partly university city. It has a distinct well developed culture and range of activities. Plenty of people participating in cultural as well as outdoor activities, making frequent use of nearby forests, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc. It has a significant intellectual population, and not just in passing from students, but from many long-in-residence folks who have made the city center a thriving and interesting place. (Central Salem is, in contrast, starkly boring.)

On the other hand, Eugene is more heavily regulated in a detailed way than Salem. Still, Eugene has much more spirit and focus. Salem is significantly spread out north-south and seems soulless.

Eugene is more of a "hippy" town, a small city in the middle of nowhere; whereas Salem is more like a suburb of Portland. Salem is also the home of four prisons.

I've been to both cities, there isn't much difference except for the prisons and Salem being a little bit more urban and commercial.

NOt much at all,

ALthough Eugene looks to be a little prettier than salem, Bot have around 150,000 peope in each town.