Makawao Union Church · Photo: Joel Bradshaw · Public domainUnemployment in Paia (10.7%) is higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Paia is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Paia is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (B). Home is the office for 24% of workers, against 10% across Hawaii.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Paia: the figures worth knowing
Home offices are common in Paia
24% of Paia workers work from home, against 10% across Hawaii. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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 ↓
Paia workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 26 across Hawaii. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical 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 998 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Paia
Household income holds Paia’s grade up ($100,559, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Paia could be anywhere from D to B−.
Paia’s commute takes about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Paia workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,061 commuters (the 24% 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.
Paia’s commute, mile by mile
About 32% 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.
Paia by day and by night
On a workday 887 residents head out to work, 111 work right here, and 1,001 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.11 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in Kahului
Where Paia clocks in
19% 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.
Jobs in Paia: what the 1,112 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Paia, 2014 → 2024: 1,051 → 1,112. 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 Paia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Paia gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.0% across Hawaii, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,395 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). 0.0% of Paia households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Paia’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Paia ranks: 3,289th of 4,868 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,287 | Lipscomb AL | 2,015 | $42K | 34.1% | 4.3% | 2% | C |
| 3,288 | Delmont PA | 2,630 | $57K | 10.8% | 10.8% | 3% | C |
| 3,289 | Paia HI | 2,512 | $101K | 17.1% | 10.7% | 11% | C |
| 3,290 | Brockway Township MI | 1,880 | $82K | 13.4% | 5.6% | 1% | C |
| 3,291 | Goshen Township OH | 2,904 | $53K | 17.8% | 2.1% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Paia, 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 Paia: questions
What is the median household income in Paia?
$100,559 (±$26,080) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Paia?
17.1%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Paia?
31 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Paia work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kahului (19%, 7 mi), Urban Honolulu (16%, 100 mi), Wailuku (13%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Paia walkable?
Paia is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Paia without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Paia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Paia
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.