Photo: en:User:Calbear22 · Public domainLahaina has higher unemployment (5.8%) than 72% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Lahaina C+; getting around on foot earns it A. Working residents average 20 minutes each way, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. Measured by household income, Lahaina is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Lahaina in brief
Commutes from Lahaina are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Hawaii. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Hawaii worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% 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 ↓
Lahaina empties out on a workday
About 7,100 people are in Lahaina on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than the 10,000 who live here: 6,800 head out to work and 3,800 come in. Day and night ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Lahaina
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lahaina is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #67 of 93 in Hawaii. Household income holds Lahaina’s grade up ($88,889, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lahaina could be anywhere from C to B.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Lahaina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lahaina workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,887 commuters (the 6% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lahaina
About 37% 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 daily flow of workers through Lahaina
On a workday 6,793 residents head out to work, 1,675 work right here, and 3,764 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,100 people are in Lahaina on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.
0.64 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
20% of working residents work in Kaanapali
Where Lahaina clocks in
20% of workers
5% 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 Lahaina
5,439 jobs are based in Lahaina.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lahaina, 2013 → 2023: 5,678 → 5,439. 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 Lahaina’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Lahaina
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lahaina is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #27 of 93 in Hawaii. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.0% across Hawaii, on an EPA index of 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,211 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). 7.9% of Lahaina households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Lahaina’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lahaina is 1,995th among 2,878 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Waikele HI | 7,528 | $121K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | East Kapolei HI | 7,551 | $119K | 5.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 420 | Aiea HI | 9,087 | $140K | 5.3% | 3.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,993 | Watervliet NY | 10,242 | $58K | 18.4% | 4.5% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,994 | Lansing NY | 11,786 | $86K | 13.4% | 5.6% | 15% | C+ |
| 1,995 | Lahaina HI | 10,162 | $89K | 11.5% | 5.8% | 20% | C+ |
| 1,996 | Lincoln IL | 12,981 | $57K | 17.0% | 2.9% | 31% | C+ |
| 1,997 | Plymouth IN | 11,081 | $59K | 13.5% | 3.4% | 37% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Lahaina, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Next door is work for 20% of Lahaina
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Kaanapali. Darker towns draw more of Lahaina’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 Lahaina: questions
What is the median household income in Lahaina?
$88,889 (±$6,274) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lahaina?
11.5%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lahaina?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lahaina work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kaanapali (20%, 3 mi), Urban Honolulu (19%, 82 mi), Kahului (5%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lahaina walkable?
Lahaina is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lahaina without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lahaina, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lahaina
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.