Most of Pepeekeo commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Hardly any work in Pepeekeo itself; outside it, Hilo draws the most (39%, 10 miles). 44 jobs are based in Pepeekeo, and 223 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Pepeekeo are C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Pepeekeo: the figures worth knowing
Pepeekeo and Hilo trade workers both ways
Hilo is the top workplace for Pepeekeo residents (39%) and also where the most people who work in Pepeekeo come from (41% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Pepeekeo is a place people come home to
There are 44 jobs based in Pepeekeo, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
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 ↓
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; with 223 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Pepeekeo’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Pepeekeo is better than 15% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Pepeekeo’s grade up ($70,625, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (9.1%) is left out: Pepeekeo’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, Pepeekeo could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The towns that employ Pepeekeo’s residents
Where Pepeekeo 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Pepeekeo
On a workday 222 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 43 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 2023, primary jobs.
How far Pepeekeo’s workers travel
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.
What Pepeekeo’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pepeekeo, 2013 → 2023: 31 → 44. 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 Pepeekeo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Pepeekeo: about 36 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pepeekeo workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 829 commuters (the 3% 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.
The commute in Pepeekeo is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pepeekeo is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.0% across Hawaii, on an EPA index of 4.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 853 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). 9.0% of Pepeekeo households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Pepeekeo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800, Pepeekeo ranks 4,574th of 5,793 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Maunawili HI | 2,024 | $177K | 1.6% | 1.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 434 | Wheeler AFB HI | 2,097 | $92K | 1.3% | 4.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 451 | Ko Olina HI | 1,670 | $133K | 6.8% | 0.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,572 | Appleton ME | 1,469 | $54K | 9.7% | 1.8% | 6% | C− |
| 4,573 | Ellington NY | 1,477 | $65K | 18.0% | 5.1% | 1% | C− |
| 4,574 | Pepeekeo HI | 2,056 | $71K | 21.7% | 9.1% | <1% | C− |
| 4,575 | Encantada-Ranchito-El Calaboz TX | 2,552 | $46K | 25.3% | 0.0% | 0% | C− |
| 4,576 | Benld IL | 1,403 | $48K | 15.4% | 7.0% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Pepeekeo, 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 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 Pepeekeo: questions
What is the median household income in Pepeekeo?
$70,625 (±$20,684) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pepeekeo?
21.7%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pepeekeo?
36 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pepeekeo work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hilo (39%, 10 mi), Urban Honolulu (13%, 205 mi), Kailua (5%, 60 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pepeekeo walkable?
Pepeekeo is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pepeekeo without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pepeekeo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pepeekeo
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.