Households in Fern Acres earn less than those in 96% of U.S. towns
Hardly any work in Fern Acres itself; outside it, Hilo draws the most (28%, 12 miles). 27.4% of residents are in poverty, against 10.0% across Hawaii. Fern Acres grades D− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Fern Acres stands out on work
A big share show a job far from home
56% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fern Acres and Hilo trade workers both ways
Hilo is the top workplace for Fern Acres residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Fern Acres come from (47% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fern Acres is a place people come home to
There are 47 jobs based in Fern Acres, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 230 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Fern Acres earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Fern Acres is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Fern Acres’ grade.
Unemployment (6.8%) is left out: Fern Acres’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Fern Acres could be anywhere from D− to D.
Where in the region Fern Acres works
About 56% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Where Fern Acres goes to work
Where Fern Acres clocks in
Lines 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.
The daily flow of workers through Fern Acres
On a workday 229 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 46 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Fern Acres on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.20 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Fern Acres is a services town
47 jobs are based in Fern Acres.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fern Acres, 2014 → 2024: 13 → 47. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fern Acres’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 32 minutes from Fern Acres
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fern Acres workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 540 commuters (the 4% 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.
For most of Fern Acres, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fern Acres is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.0% across Hawaii, on an EPA index of 4.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 561 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.6% of Fern Acres households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fern Acres’ commuters take a bus or train.
Where Fern Acres sits among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 367 | Ko Olina HI | 1,670 | $133K | 6.8% | 0.8% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 450 | Mahinahina HI | 1,027 | $163K | 1.8% | 6.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 618 | Kaanapali HI | 1,170 | $129K | 4.5% | 17.6% | 25% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,241 | Tsaile AZ | 1,696 | $49K | 46.2% | 6.2% | 10% | D− |
| 6,242 | Los Molinos CA | 1,604 | $35K | 34.4% | 13.1% | 7% | D− |
| 6,243 | Fern Acres HI | 1,480 | $40K | 27.4% | 6.8% | <1% | D− |
| 6,244 | Eudora AR | 1,511 | $29K | 28.1% | 8.5% | 36% | D− |
| 6,245 | Cumberland KY | 1,761 | $35K | 52.9% | 30.1% | 8% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Fern Acres, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Work in the towns next to Fern Acres
The biggest share goes to Mountain View (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fern Acres workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fern Acres | – | D− | C | 32 min | $40,400 |
| Mountain View | 2% | D | B− | 40 min | $69,299 |
| Eden Roc | under 2% | D− | D | 45 min | $24,771 |
| Hawaiian Acres | 2% | C+ | C | 36 min | $91,120 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fern Acres’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 2024, 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 Fern Acres: questions
What is the median household income in Fern Acres?
$40,400 (±$20,405) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fern Acres?
27.4%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fern Acres?
32 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fern Acres work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hilo (28%, 12 mi), Urban Honolulu (26%, 219 mi), Keaau (5%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fern Acres walkable?
Fern Acres is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fern Acres without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fern Acres, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fern Acres
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.