There are 20.0 jobs in Keaau for every working resident, and 2,115 people commute in
There are 2,121 jobs in Keaau; 106 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Keaau C+; getting around on foot earns it B−. Only 6% stay in Keaau for work; outside it, Hilo is the main destination (38%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Keaau’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Keaau is better than 42% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Keaau’s grade up ($85,000, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.2%) is left out: Keaau’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, Keaau could be anywhere from C− to B.
In and out of Keaau on a workday
On a workday 100 residents head out to work and 6 work right here.
About 3,500 people are in Keaau on a workday afternoon, 140% more than live here.
20.0 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.
Where the people who work in Keaau live
Where Keaau 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.
What Keaau’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Keaau, 2013 → 2023: 1,746 → 2,121. 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 Keaau’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Keaau takes about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Keaau workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 592 commuters (the 5% 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 far Keaau’s workers travel
About 46% 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.
The commute in Keaau is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Keaau is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Keaau 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 622 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). 11.7% of Keaau households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Keaau’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, Keaau ranks 2,540th of 5,877 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | Ko Olina HI | 1,670 | $133K | 6.8% | 0.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 414 | Mahinahina HI | 1,027 | $163K | 1.8% | 6.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 566 | Kaanapali HI | 1,170 | $129K | 4.5% | 17.6% | 27% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,538 | Homer Township OH | 1,639 | $76K | 15.8% | 1.6% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,539 | Alma WI | 1,040 | $76K | 7.2% | 5.2% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,540 | Keaau HI | 1,436 | $85K | 11.5% | 2.2% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,541 | Umapine OR | 1,215 | $56K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 0% | C+ |
| 2,542 | Topeka IN | 1,229 | $63K | 7.9% | 12.3% | 19% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Keaau, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Work in the towns next to Keaau
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Keaau workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keaau | – | C+ | B− | 30 min | $85,000 |
| Kurtistown | under 2% | B | C | 37 min | $96,165 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Keaau’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 Keaau: questions
What is the median household income in Keaau?
$85,000 (±$26,032) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Keaau?
11.5%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Keaau?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Keaau work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hilo (38%, 5 mi), Urban Honolulu (19%, 216 mi), Kailua (7%, 62 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Keaau walkable?
Keaau is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Keaau without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Keaau, from the people who make the trip.
More of Keaau
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.