U.S. Coast Guard Molokai Light · Photo: Boucher, Jack E. · Public domainKualapuu has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
123 jobs are based in Kualapuu for 353 working residents. Kualapuu grades D for jobs and income and C for walkability. About one in ten work in Kualapuu itself; outside it, Urban Honolulu draws the most (30%, 52 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Kualapuu apart on work
A big share show a job far from home
43% 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 ↓
30% of Kualapuu works in Urban Honolulu
106 working residents, 30%, have their main job in Urban Honolulu, 52 miles away. That’s 3 times as many as work in Kualapuu itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Kualapuu are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 26 across Hawaii. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Hawaii worker. 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 353 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Kualapuu’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Kualapuu is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #90 of 93 in Hawaii. Household income holds Kualapuu’s grade up ($62,917, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (7.2%) is left out: Kualapuu’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, Kualapuu could be anywhere from D− to C.
The commute from Kualapuu, by distance
About 43% 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.
Where Kualapuu goes to work
Where Kualapuu clocks in
24% 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.
From Kualapuu, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kualapuu workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 773 commuters (the 12% 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.
Who works in Kualapuu, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 321 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 91 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.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Jobs in Kualapuu: what the 123 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kualapuu, 2014 → 2024: 128 → 123. 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 Kualapuu’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Kualapuu walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kualapuu is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #75 of 93 in Hawaii. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.0% across Hawaii, on an EPA index of 4.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 877 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). 5.2% of Kualapuu households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Kualapuu’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400, and where Kualapuu sits
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Maunawili HI | 2,024 | $177K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 416 | Wheeler AFB HI | 2,097 | $92K | 1.3% | 4.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,259 | Eleele HI | 2,522 | $118K | 6.1% | 2.7% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,445 | Pembroke NC | 2,888 | $26K | 39.1% | 3.9% | 10% | D |
| 4,446 | Comins Township MI | 1,982 | $53K | 14.2% | 1.6% | 20% | D |
| 4,447 | Kualapuu HI | 2,535 | $63K | 19.8% | 7.2% | 9% | D |
| 4,448 | Snow Hill MD | 2,237 | $48K | 18.4% | 12.4% | 13% | D |
| 4,449 | Frederick OK | 3,371 | $45K | 25.0% | 5.0% | 34% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Kualapuu, 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 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 Kualapuu: questions
What is the median household income in Kualapuu?
$62,917 (±$22,416) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kualapuu?
19.8%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kualapuu?
18 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kualapuu work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Urban Honolulu (30%, 52 mi), Kaunakakai (24%, 6 mi), Wailuku (3%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Kualapuu walkable?
Kualapuu is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kualapuu without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kualapuu, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kualapuu
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.