Hilo draws more than half of Wainaku’s working residents
Commuters spend 20 minutes getting to work on average; Hawaii averages 26, the U.S. 26. Wainaku has 78 jobs; 551 of its residents have a job. The poverty rate is 10.3% (Hawaii 10.0%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Wainaku in brief
More than half of Wainaku works in Hilo
317 working residents, 58%, have their main job in Hilo, 3.8 miles away across the town line. That’s 58 times as many as work in Wainaku itself. The commute map ↓
Wainaku is a place people come home to
There are 78 jobs based in Wainaku, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Wainaku has about 490 people in it, 49% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Most Wainaku residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. 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; with 551 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Wainaku goes to work
Where Wainaku 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.
A workday in Wainaku: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 545 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 72 people come in from elsewhere.
About 490 people are in Wainaku on a workday afternoon, 49% fewer than live here.
0.14 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 2024, primary jobs.
Wainaku’s commute, mile by mile
About 26% 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.
In Wainaku, 49% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wainaku, 2014 → 2024: 67 → 78. 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 Wainaku’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Hawaii
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wainaku workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 436 commuters (the 9% 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.
58% of Wainaku works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Hilo. Darker towns draw more of Wainaku’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 Wainaku: questions
What is the median household income in Wainaku?
$69,205 (±$13,257) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wainaku?
10.3%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wainaku?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wainaku work?
1% work in town.
Can you get around Wainaku without a car?
0% 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 Wainaku, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wainaku
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.