Work means Urban Honolulu for more than half of Waipio’s working residents
Waipio grades A for jobs and income and A for walkability. Measured by household income, Waipio is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 4.8 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 16.6 in Urban Honolulu.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Waipio: the gist
More than half of Waipio works in Urban Honolulu
3,412 working residents, 62%, have their main job in Urban Honolulu, 11 miles away. That’s 16 times as many as work in Waipio itself. The commute map ↓
Waipio trades workers with the towns around it
Waipio has about as many jobs (4,729) as working residents (5,504), but they are mostly different people: 5,294 residents leave for work each day while 4,519 people come in. Only 4% of the jobs in Waipio are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Waipio
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Waipio is better than 90% of U.S. towns, #10 of 93 in Hawaii. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Waipio’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waipio could be anywhere from A− to A+.
62% of working residents work in Urban Honolulu
Where Waipio clocks in
3% of workers
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 Waipio, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 5,294 residents head out to work, 210 work right here, and 4,519 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 (0.86 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.
67% of the jobs in Waipio pay over $3,333 a month
4,729 jobs are based in Waipio.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waipio, 2014 → 2024: 4,110 → 4,729. 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 Waipio’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes to work from Waipio
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waipio workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,982 commuters (the 8% 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.
How far it is to work from Waipio
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.
Waipio is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waipio is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns, #25 of 93 in Hawaii. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.0% across Hawaii.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,423 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 30% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% 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). 4.5% of Waipio households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Waipio’s commuters take a bus or train.
407th of 2,507: where Waipio ranks among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 390 | Aiea HI | 9,087 | $140K | 5.3% | 3.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 405 | Kendall Township IL | 10,154 | $122K | 2.3% | 3.8% | 7% | A |
| 406 | Plumstead Township PA | 14,357 | $138K | 4.5% | 4.0% | 8% | A |
| 407 | Waipio HI | 10,870 | $110K | 5.7% | 2.9% | 4% | A |
| 408 | Glen Ridge NJ | 8,259 | $250K | 1.1% | 7.6% | 3% | A |
| 409 | Highland Park TX | 8,764 | $250K | 7.0% | 4.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 427 | Ahuimanu HI | 8,452 | $135K | 6.4% | 2.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 560 | Halawa HI | 14,385 | $110K | 9.3% | 2.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 19% | 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 Waipio, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Work in the towns next to Waipio
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Waipio’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 Waipio: questions
What is the median household income in Waipio?
$109,877 (±$10,882) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waipio?
5.7%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waipio?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waipio work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Urban Honolulu (62%, 11 mi), Pearl City (3%, 3 mi), Kapolei (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Waipio walkable?
Waipio is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waipio without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 30% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waipio, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waipio
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.