Waiakea Mission Station-Hilo Station · Photo: W Nowicki · CC BY 3.0At 6.9%, unemployment in Hilo is higher than in 82% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Hilo are C for jobs and income and B for walkability. More than half work in Hilo itself; outside it, Kailua draws the most (6%, 60 miles). Commuters spend 20 minutes getting to work on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Hilo in brief
Most jobs in Hilo go to people who live here
Of the 28,240 jobs based in Hilo, 70% are held by Hilo residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Hilo has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Hilo went from 18,745 in 2013 to 28,240 in 2023, +51%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Hilo are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Hawaii. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Hawaii worker. Time on the road ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Hilo
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hilo is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #79 of 93 in Hawaii. Household income holds Hilo’s grade up ($81,779, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hilo could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Hilo by day and by night
On a workday 12,940 residents head out to work, 19,754 work right here, and 8,486 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Jobs in Hilo: what the 28,240 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hilo, 2013 → 2023: 18,745 → 28,240. 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 Hilo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Hilo: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hilo workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 20,306 commuters (the 9% 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.
Where Hilo goes to work
Where Hilo 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.
How far Hilo goes to work
About 23% 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.
In Hilo, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hilo is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #62 of 93 in Hawaii. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.0% across Hawaii, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 22,287 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). 8.9% of Hilo households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hilo’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Hilo ranks: 789th of 904 U.S. towns of 35,000 to 68,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| 3 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Pearl City HI | 44,547 | $118K | 5.8% | 2.8% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Kailua HI | 39,640 | $149K | 4.0% | 3.8% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 236 | East Honolulu HI | 51,360 | $160K | 5.3% | 4.5% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 787 | Opelika AL | 35,765 | $65K | 16.0% | 5.6% | 36% | C |
| 788 | Perth Amboy NJ | 56,739 | $62K | 20.2% | 14.3% | 14% | C |
| 789 | Hilo HI | 50,404 | $82K | 14.5% | 6.9% | 60% | C |
| 790 | Dearborn Heights MI | 60,664 | $60K | 21.9% | 7.9% | 6% | C |
| 791 | Lewiston ME | 38,866 | $55K | 20.0% | 4.8% | 34% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 904 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Hilo, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Work in the towns next to Hilo
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hilo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hilo | – | C | B | 20 min | $81,779 |
| Wainaku | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Wainaku: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hilo’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 Hilo: questions
What is the median household income in Hilo?
$81,779 (±$7,098) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hilo?
14.5%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hilo?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hilo work?
60% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kailua (6%, 60 mi), Kaiminani (5%, 60 mi), Keaau (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hilo walkable?
Hilo is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hilo without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hilo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hilo
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.