Most of Kalaheo commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are higher than in 84% of U.S. towns. 624 jobs are based in Kalaheo, and 1,659 of its residents work somewhere. Kalaheo grades C+ 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 Kalaheo stands out on work
Fewer jobs are based in Kalaheo than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Kalaheo fell from 1,030 in 2014 to 624 in 2024, −39%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Kalaheo makes and builds things
38% of the jobs based in Kalaheo are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Kalaheo residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 11%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 ↓
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.
Where Kalaheo’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kalaheo is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #63 of 93 in Hawaii. Household income holds Kalaheo’s grade up ($110,607, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kalaheo could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Goods, not services: 38% of the jobs in Kalaheo
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kalaheo, 2014 → 2024: 1,030 → 624. 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 Kalaheo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Kalaheo
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.
Who commutes out of Kalaheo, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,535 residents head out to work, 124 work right here, and 500 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,400 people are in Kalaheo on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
17% of working residents work in Poipu
Where Kalaheo clocks in
15% 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.
Time on the road from Kalaheo: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kalaheo workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,621 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.
Driving is how Kalaheo gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kalaheo is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns, #72 of 93 in Hawaii. Both inputs place Kalaheo 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 1,789 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). 6.0% of Kalaheo households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kalaheo’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,442nd of 4,000: where Kalaheo ranks among U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 156 | Heeia HI | 5,144 | $176K | 3.3% | 2.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 538 | Waikapu HI | 3,591 | $123K | 4.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 629 | West Loch Estate HI | 5,544 | $122K | 8.3% | 3.1% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,440 | Green Township OH | 3,795 | $64K | 13.9% | 2.8% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,441 | Waterford Township PA | 3,852 | $77K | 10.8% | 4.4% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,442 | Kalaheo HI | 4,435 | $111K | 11.4% | 5.3% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,443 | Montgomery NY | 3,757 | $90K | 17.4% | 6.5% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,444 | Berlin WI | 5,588 | $59K | 16.0% | 2.3% | 20% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,000 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Kalaheo, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Work in the towns next to Kalaheo
The biggest share goes to Lawai (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Kalaheo’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 Kalaheo: questions
What is the median household income in Kalaheo?
$110,607 (±$9,550) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kalaheo?
11.4%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kalaheo?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kalaheo work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Poipu (17%, 4 mi), Urban Honolulu (17%, 115 mi), Lihue (15%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Kalaheo walkable?
Kalaheo is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kalaheo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kalaheo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kalaheo
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.