Kawela Bay vs Makaha Valley

A side-by-side comparison of Kawela Bay and Makaha Valley: population, income, housing, and more.

Kawela Bay and Makaha Valley are places in Hawaii. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Kawela Bay has the higher population (371 vs 161 in Makaha Valley). Makaha Valley has the higher median household income ($161,000 vs $76,094 in Kawela Bay). Makaha Valley has the higher median home value ($1,636,400 vs $848,400 in Kawela Bay).

Population, income & housing

	Kawela Bay	Makaha Valley
Population	371	161
Median age	45.7 yrs	46.6 yrs
Median household income	$76,094	$161,000
Median home value	$848,400	$1,636,400
Median gross rent	$2,609	—
Housing units	551	123
Homeownership rate	77.7%	90.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	52.7%	52.8%
Unemployment rate	2.0%	9.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kawela Bay	Makaha Valley
Population	225 → 371 (+64.9%)	1,731 → 161 (-90.7%)
Median household income	$72,500 → $76,094 (+5.0%)	$67,292 → $161,000 (+139.3%)
Median home value	$650,700 → $848,400 (+30.4%)	$220,700 → $1,636,400 (+641.5%)
Median gross rent	$2,039 → $2,609 (+28.0%)	—

Kawela Bay

Population

225371

Median household income

$72,500$76,094

Median home value

$650,700$848,400

Median gross rent

$2,039$2,609

Makaha Valley

Population

1,731161

Median household income

$67,292$161,000

Median home value

$220,700$1,636,400

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kawela Bay	Makaha Valley
Under 5	3.0%	1.9%
5 to 17	13.2%	16.1%
18 to 24	3.5%	5.6%
25 to 34	4.9%	19.9%
35 to 44	21.3%	5.0%
45 to 54	15.6%	6.8%
55 to 64	11.3%	18.0%
65 to 74	15.1%	16.1%
75 and over	12.1%	10.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kawela Bay	Makaha Valley
White (non-Hispanic)	64.4%	41.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	8.4%	19.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	11.8%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	24.5%	10.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	17.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kawela Bay	Makaha Valley
No high school diploma	5.7%	0.8%
High school graduate	15.4%	15.4%
Some college or associate's	26.2%	30.9%
Bachelor's degree	35.2%	33.3%
Graduate or professional degree	17.4%	19.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kawela Bay	Makaha Valley
Drove alone	64.8%	75.0%
Carpooled	13.6%	17.6%
Public transit	2.5%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	19.1%	7.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kawela Bay	Makaha Valley
1-unit, detached	7.4%	92.7%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	19.8%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	60.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	8.9%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Kawela Bay	Makaha Valley
Poverty rate	7.5%	11.8%
Average household size	2.07	2.68
Mean commute (minutes)	41	52
Median year structure built	1976	2021