Honokaa People's Theatre · Photo: Ross stephenson · CC BY-SA 3.0There are 1.8 jobs in Honokaa for every working resident, and 429 people commute in
There are 437 jobs in Honokaa; 242 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Honokaa is better than 44% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (B+). Home is the office for 0% of workers, next to 10% for Hawaii as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Honokaa in brief
Honokaa’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Honokaa is Urban Honolulu, 177 miles away as the crow flies. 19% of working residents (45) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
39% 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 ↓
Honokaa workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 26 across Hawaii. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical 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; with 242 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Honokaa: the grade in detail
The poverty rate holds Honokaa’s grade up (6.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Honokaa’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, Honokaa could be anywhere from C− to B.
Short hops and long hauls from Honokaa
About 39% 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.
Commuting from Honokaa: about 33 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Honokaa workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 813 commuters (the 0% 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.
How many people are in Honokaa by day
On a workday 234 residents head out to work and 8 work right here.
About 2,200 people are in Honokaa on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
1.8 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 Honokaa: where workers come from
Where Honokaa clocks in
13% 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.
The kinds of work in Honokaa
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Honokaa, 2013 → 2023: 292 → 437. 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 Honokaa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Honokaa is mostly behind the wheel
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.0% across Hawaii, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 813 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). 3.1% of Honokaa households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Honokaa’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,556th of 5,509: where Honokaa ranks among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Maunawili HI | 2,024 | $177K | 1.6% | 1.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 409 | Wheeler AFB HI | 2,097 | $92K | 1.3% | 4.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 425 | Ko Olina HI | 1,670 | $133K | 6.8% | 0.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,554 | Sheboygan Falls WI | 1,838 | $71K | 14.4% | 2.2% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,555 | Glencoe FL | 1,445 | $47K | 5.1% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,556 | Honokaa HI | 1,963 | $87K | 6.3% | 1.0% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,557 | East Jordan MI | 2,243 | $60K | 10.5% | 0.9% | 24% | C+ |
| 2,558 | Burlington Township MI | 1,984 | $74K | 8.4% | 5.1% | 2% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Honokaa, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
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 Honokaa: questions
What is the median household income in Honokaa?
$87,019 (±$17,070) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Honokaa?
6.3%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Honokaa?
33 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Honokaa work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Urban Honolulu (19%, 176 mi), Waimea (13%, 11 mi), Waikoloa Beach Resort (10%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Honokaa walkable?
Honokaa is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Honokaa without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Honokaa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Honokaa
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.