Household incomes in Honalo trail those of 69% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 14.6% of residents, against 10.0% across Hawaii. For jobs and income Honalo is better than 10% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (C−). Hardly any stay in Honalo for work; outside it, Urban Honolulu is the main destination (35%, 174 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How Honalo earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Honalo’s grade up ($63,125, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.2%) is left out: Honalo’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, Honalo could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Honalo by day and by night
On a workday 82 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 129 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.
1.6 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.
Commuting in to Honalo: where workers come from
Where Honalo clocks in
6% 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.
Honalo makes things: 39% of its jobs are in goods
129 jobs are based in Honalo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Honalo, 2013 → 2023: 75 → 129. 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 Honalo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Honalo: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Honalo workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 480 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Honalo
About 73% 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.
Most trips from Honalo start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 525 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). 0.5% of Honalo households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Honalo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Honalo places 2,526th of 3,133 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 182 | Mahinahina HI | 1,027 | $163K | 1.8% | 6.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 262 | Kaanapali HI | 1,170 | $129K | 4.5% | 17.6% | 27% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 618 | Kaaawa HI | 1,328 | $132K | 11.0% | 0.9% | 0% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,524 | Pittsfield NY | 1,304 | $67K | 23.0% | 7.0% | 3% | D |
| 2,525 | Marion Township OH | 1,185 | $62K | 15.8% | 7.0% | 2% | D |
| 2,526 | Honalo HI | 1,071 | $63K | 14.6% | 4.2% | 0% | D |
| 2,527 | Coleman MI | 1,252 | $48K | 22.3% | 3.7% | 7% | D |
| 2,528 | Ontonagon MI | 1,264 | $50K | 10.4% | 3.6% | 36% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Honalo, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Honalo and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Kahaluu-Keauhou (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Honalo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honalo | – | D | C− | 26 min | $63,125 |
| Kahaluu-Keauhou | 2% | B− | B+ | 25 min | $96,212 |
| Kealakekua | under 3% | B− | C | 31 min | $102,772 |
| Holualoa | 2% | B− | B | 24 min | $115,972 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Honalo’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 Honalo: questions
What is the median household income in Honalo?
$63,125 (±$25,779) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Honalo?
14.6%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Honalo?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Honalo work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Urban Honolulu (35%, 174 mi), Kailua (9%, 8 mi), Kahului (6%, 96 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Honalo walkable?
Honalo is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Honalo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Honalo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Honalo
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.