USS ARIZONA Wreck · Photo: Robert Enrique Muller · Public domainFor about two in three of its working residents, Waimalu is a commute to Urban Honolulu
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 7.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 16.6 in Urban Honolulu. The two grades for Waimalu are B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. Only 4% work in Waimalu; the top destination outside it is Urban Honolulu (66%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Waimalu at work: what stands out
More than half of Waimalu works in Urban Honolulu
3,732 working residents, 66%, have their main job in Urban Honolulu, 7.2 miles away. That’s 17 times as many as work in Waimalu itself. The commute map ↓
Waimalu trades workers with the towns around it
Waimalu has about as many jobs (6,181) as working residents (5,684), but they are mostly different people: 5,441 residents leave for work each day while 5,938 people come in. Only 4% of the jobs in Waimalu are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Waimalu residents work close to home
80% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 5% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
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.
Where Waimalu’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Waimalu’s grade up (ahead of 85% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waimalu could be anywhere from B− to A.
Out of Waimalu to work: where people go
Where Waimalu clocks in
3% 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.
Who works in Waimalu, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 5,441 residents head out to work, 243 work right here, and 5,938 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 (1.09 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.
Where in the region Waimalu works
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.
Jobs in Waimalu: what the 6,181 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waimalu, 2014 → 2024: 7,693 → 6,181. 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 Waimalu’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Waimalu: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waimalu workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,919 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.
In Waimalu, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waimalu is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #20 of 93 in Hawaii. Both inputs place Waimalu 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 6,690 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 80% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 67% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 7.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 90% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.4% of Waimalu households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Waimalu’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,526 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000, Waimalu comes 1,175th on jobs and income
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Ocean Pointe HI | 17,085 | $150K | 2.1% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 397 | Aiea HI | 9,087 | $140K | 5.3% | 3.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 414 | Waipio HI | 10,870 | $110K | 5.7% | 2.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,173 | Salisbury MA | 9,530 | $93K | 5.0% | 6.9% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,174 | Swansea IL | 14,356 | $92K | 8.7% | 5.7% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,175 | Waimalu HI | 13,061 | $89K | 6.8% | 6.7% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,176 | Flower Hill MD | 13,794 | $113K | 9.3% | 8.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,177 | Glenpool OK | 14,705 | $80K | 11.0% | 3.3% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Waimalu, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Around Waimalu: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Pearl City (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Waimalu workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waimalu | – | B+ | A | 26 min | $89,232 |
| Aiea | under 2% | A | A | 25 min | $140,308 |
| Pearl City | 3% | A | A | 27 min | $118,112 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Waimalu’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 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 Waimalu: questions
What is the median household income in Waimalu?
$89,232 (±$7,617) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waimalu?
6.8%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waimalu?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waimalu work?
4% work in town.
Is Waimalu walkable?
Waimalu is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waimalu without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 67% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waimalu, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waimalu
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.