Photo: Rockpocket at English Wikipedia · Public domainKaanapali’s household incomes are higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
37% of workers work from home; Hawaii has 10%. 4.5% of residents live below the poverty line, against 10.0% across Hawaii. The two grades for Kaanapali are A− 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
Getting to work from Kaanapali, in brief
Kaanapali fills up on a workday
Kaanapali has 5,351 jobs, 9.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 5,900 people are in town, 5 times the 1,200 who live here. Day and night ↓
Kaanapali’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Kaanapali is Urban Honolulu, 80 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (96) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A lot of Kaanapali works from home
37% of Kaanapali workers work from home, against 10% across Hawaii. Time on the road ↓
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 582 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Kaanapali: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Kaanapali is better than 81% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Kaanapali’s grade up ($129,167, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (17.6%) is left out: Kaanapali’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, Kaanapali could be anywhere from B to A.
A workday in Kaanapali: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 438 residents head out to work, 144 work right here, and 5,207 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,900 people are in Kaanapali on a workday afternoon, 408% more than live here.
9.2 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 2024, primary jobs.
The distance from Kaanapali to work
About 31% 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.
Commuting from Kaanapali: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kaanapali workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 247 commuters (the 37% 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 Kaanapali’s workers come from
Where Kaanapali clocks in
15% of workers
8% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Kaanapali
5,351 jobs are based in Kaanapali.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kaanapali, 2014 → 2024: 5,765 → 5,351. 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 Kaanapali’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Kaanapali walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kaanapali is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Kaanapali near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 393 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). 1.8% of Kaanapali households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kaanapali’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Kaanapali comes 392nd on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 285 | Mahinahina HI | 1,027 | $163K | 1.8% | 6.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 390 | Janesville IA | 1,052 | $104K | 5.5% | 2.9% | 2% | A− |
| 391 | Sylvester WI | 1,007 | $111K | 2.5% | 3.3% | 1% | A− |
| 392 | Kaanapali HI | 1,170 | $129K | 4.5% | 17.6% | 25% | A− |
| 393 | Stem NC | 1,023 | $96K | 3.0% | 1.1% | 0% | A− |
| 394 | Surf City NJ | 1,305 | $119K | 4.5% | 5.3% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 756 | Omao HI | 1,528 | $102K | 3.1% | 7.6% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 895 | Kaaawa HI | 1,328 | $132K | 11.0% | 0.9% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Kaanapali, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Next door is work for 20% of Kaanapali
The biggest share goes to Lahaina (15%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kaanapali workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaanapali | – | A− | C | 18 min | $129,167 |
| Mahinahina | under 2% | A | B+ | 18 min | $162,813 |
| Lahaina | 15% | C+ | A | 20 min | $88,889 |
| Napili-Honokowai | 5% | B− | B+ | 18 min | $105,565 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Kaanapali’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 Kaanapali: questions
What is the median household income in Kaanapali?
$129,167 (±$42,287) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kaanapali?
4.5%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kaanapali?
18 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 37% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kaanapali work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Urban Honolulu (16%, 80 mi), Lahaina (15%, 3 mi), Kapalua (8%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Kaanapali walkable?
Kaanapali is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kaanapali 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 Kaanapali, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kaanapali
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.