Kailua vs Waipahu

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

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

Waipahu has the higher population (39,871 vs 39,762 in Kailua). Kailua has the higher median household income ($146,615 vs $98,633 in Waipahu). Kailua has the higher median home value ($1,239,000 vs $835,400 in Waipahu).

Population, income & housing

	Kailua	Waipahu
Population	39,762	39,871
Median age	43.1 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$146,615	$98,633
Median home value	$1,239,000	$835,400
Median gross rent	$3,068	$1,585
Housing units	14,672	9,486
Homeownership rate	74.4%	59.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	54.7%	18.6%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kailua	Waipahu
Population	37,586 → 39,762 (+5.8%)	39,469 → 39,871 (+1.0%)
Median household income	$114,292 → $146,615 (+28.3%)	$78,204 → $98,633 (+26.1%)
Median home value	$959,200 → $1,239,000 (+29.2%)	$626,600 → $835,400 (+33.3%)
Median gross rent	$2,500 → $3,068 (+22.7%)	$1,343 → $1,585 (+18.0%)

Kailua

Population

37,58639,762

Median household income

$114,292$146,615

Median home value

$959,200$1,239,000

Median gross rent

$2,500$3,068

Waipahu

Population

39,46939,871

Median household income

$78,204$98,633

Median home value

$626,600$835,400

Median gross rent

$1,343$1,585

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kailua	Waipahu
Under 5	5.4%	6.3%
5 to 17	15.8%	14.9%
18 to 24	5.9%	8.5%
25 to 34	10.7%	14.6%
35 to 44	15.3%	11.0%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.5%
55 to 64	12.9%	11.4%
65 to 74	12.2%	9.6%
75 and over	10.2%	11.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kailua	Waipahu
White (non-Hispanic)	41.4%	2.8%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	21.5%	67.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	4.2%	12.9%
Some other race	1.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	24.6%	10.7%
Hispanic or Latino	6.6%	6.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kailua	Waipahu
No high school diploma	2.4%	14.8%
High school graduate	17.6%	35.5%
Some college or associate's	25.3%	31.0%
Bachelor's degree	28.7%	14.0%
Graduate or professional degree	26.0%	4.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kailua	Waipahu
Drove alone	72.8%	59.6%
Carpooled	11.0%	16.9%
Public transit	2.1%	12.2%
Walked	1.4%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.5%	4.2%
Other means	0.6%	4.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kailua	Waipahu
1-unit, detached	74.1%	49.2%
1-unit, attached	9.1%	13.0%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	17.5%
20 or more units	8.3%	12.0%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Kailua	Waipahu
Poverty rate	4.1%	11.4%
Average household size	2.91	4.32
Mean commute (minutes)	29	32
Median year structure built	1966	1971