The Gallows Hill Project has carried out five years of research using court records, ground-penetrating radar and aerial photographs to locate the spot, a rocky ledge known as Proctor's Ledge.
Previously the hangings were thought to have taken place at Gallows Hill, which covers several acres of land, but the researchers narrowed the location down after studying an eye-witness reference from the Salem witch trials papers and conclusions by 20th century historian Sidney Perley.
The Mayor of Salem, Kim Driscoll, said in a statement: "Salem, long known for a dark time in our past when people turned on each other, is now a community where people turn toward each other.
"Having this site identified marks an important opportunity for Salem, as a city, to come together and recognise the injustice and tragedy perpetrated against 19 innocent people."
She told CBS News: "It's a mix of emotions, confirmation and knowing the history is important but it definitely feels like something we make sure it's something we honour.
"I think we are continually wanting to see ourselves as wanting to make up for what happened there."
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings of people accused of witchcraft between 1692 and 1693, which resulted in the executions of 20 people - the majority of them women and all but one by hanging.
Around 150 people were accused over a series of months of witchcraft as a wave of hysteria spread through colonial Massachusetts triggered by claims that girls who suffered seizures in the town had been afflicted by people practising witchcraft.
The trials were later deemed unlawful and helped to shape the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the US Constitution, which include the right to defend oneself against accusations and the right to a jury trial.
Emerson Baker, professor of history at Salem State University, who was a member of the project, said the witch trials "cast a long shadow" over the city's history.
He said: "For generations, many residents wanted to forget the trials, and refused to acknowledge their community's role in one of the great injustices in American history.
"The fact that the execution site has been 'lost' more than once speaks to a collective amnesia and desire to forget."
Salem is now seeking funding to install a plaque as the site, as well as to clean the area up and prepare it for tourism.
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