Aiea’s household incomes are higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 6.5 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 16.6 in Urban Honolulu. Below the poverty line: 5.3% of residents; Hawaii has 10.0%. Jobs and income earn Aiea A; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Aiea
Aiea has far more jobs than workers
Aiea has 1,931 jobs, 3.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Aiea and Urban Honolulu trade workers both ways
Urban Honolulu is the top workplace for Aiea residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Aiea come from (53% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Aiea has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Aiea went from 1,246 in 2013 to 1,931 in 2023, +55%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 643 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Aiea’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Aiea is better than 90% of U.S. towns, #9 of 93 in Hawaii. Household income is its strongest input ($140,308, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Aiea could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Aiea fills up on a workday
On a workday 629 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 1,917 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Aiea on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
3.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Who travels to work in Aiea, and from where
Where Aiea clocks in
5% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Jobs in Aiea: what the 1,931 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Aiea, 2013 → 2023: 1,246 → 1,931. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Aiea’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Aiea: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Aiea workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,313 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Hawaii: 72% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The commute from Aiea, by distance
About 29% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Good to walk, short on transit: Aiea
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Aiea is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #21 of 93 in Hawaii.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,676 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 54% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 88% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.5% of Aiea households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Aiea’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Aiea ranks: 421st of 2,855 U.S. towns of 6,400 to 12,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Waikele HI | 7,528 | $121K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | East Kapolei HI | 7,551 | $119K | 5.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 419 | Jackson WI | 8,322 | $93K | 6.0% | 1.5% | 5% | A |
| 420 | Stow MA | 7,248 | $186K | 5.2% | 4.1% | 4% | A |
| 421 | Aiea HI | 9,087 | $140K | 5.3% | 3.8% | 2% | A |
| 422 | Temple GA | 6,564 | $91K | 2.6% | 1.0% | 4% | A |
| 423 | Campton Hills IL | 10,894 | $209K | 2.9% | 5.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 438 | Waipio HI | 10,870 | $110K | 5.7% | 2.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,855 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Aiea, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
How Aiea compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Aiea’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Aiea: questions
What is the median household income in Aiea?
$140,308 (±$20,097) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Aiea?
5.3%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Aiea?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Aiea work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Urban Honolulu (31%, 6 mi), Kailua (5%, 12 mi), East Honolulu (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Aiea walkable?
Aiea is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Aiea without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 54% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Aiea, from the people who make the trip.
More of Aiea
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.