Kailua vs Waimea

A side-by-side comparison of Kailua and Waimea: population, income, housing, and more.

Kailua and Waimea are places in Hawaii. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Kailua has the higher population (21,851 vs 10,242 in Waimea). Waimea has the higher median household income ($89,268 vs $86,743 in Kailua). Waimea has the higher median home value ($652,900 vs $649,400 in Kailua).

Population, income & housing

	Kailua	Waimea
Population	21,851	10,242
Median age	42.2 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$86,743	$89,268
Median home value	$649,400	$652,900
Median gross rent	$1,747	$2,039
Housing units	10,009	3,876
Homeownership rate	66.2%	72.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.2%	39.9%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kailua	Waimea
Population	15,231 → 21,851 (+43.5%)	11,908 → 10,242 (-14.0%)
Median household income	$72,267 → $86,743 (+20.0%)	$91,074 → $89,268 (-2.0%)
Median home value	$461,900 → $649,400 (+40.6%)	$449,200 → $652,900 (+45.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,208 → $1,747 (+44.6%)	$1,569 → $2,039 (+30.0%)

Kailua

Population

15,23121,851

Median household income

$72,267$86,743

Median home value

$461,900$649,400

Median gross rent

$1,208$1,747

Waimea

Population

11,90810,242

Median household income

$91,074$89,268

Median home value

$449,200$652,900

Median gross rent

$1,569$2,039

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kailua	Waimea
Under 5	5.8%	7.2%
5 to 17	14.7%	17.4%
18 to 24	6.6%	4.2%
25 to 34	15.2%	9.6%
35 to 44	11.0%	16.1%
45 to 54	11.5%	13.7%
55 to 64	15.9%	10.9%
65 to 74	11.9%	11.7%
75 and over	7.4%	9.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kailua	Waimea
White (non-Hispanic)	41.4%	19.9%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	18.0%	24.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	14.3%	11.8%
Some other race	0.0%	0.9%
Two or more races	19.9%	35.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.2%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kailua	Waimea
No high school diploma	8.0%	5.4%
High school graduate	27.9%	28.3%
Some college or associate's	30.8%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	20.0%	22.5%
Graduate or professional degree	13.3%	17.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kailua	Waimea
Drove alone	60.7%	68.0%
Carpooled	22.0%	14.0%
Public transit	0.3%	1.6%
Walked	3.3%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.7%	15.1%
Other means	2.7%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kailua	Waimea
1-unit, detached	46.8%	83.5%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	9.3%	9.0%
5 to 19 units	25.9%	1.5%
20 or more units	16.2%	1.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.6%

Poverty & households

	Kailua	Waimea
Poverty rate	13.4%	12.4%
Average household size	2.81	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	22	29
Median year structure built	1985	1993