Wailua vs Waimea

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

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

Wailua has the higher population (2,544 vs 2,070 in Waimea). Waimea has the higher median household income ($87,222 vs $68,548 in Wailua). Wailua has the higher median home value ($697,300 vs $573,900 in Waimea).

Population, income & housing

	Wailua	Waimea
Population	2,544	2,070
Median age	45.8 yrs	49.7 yrs
Median household income	$68,548	$87,222
Median home value	$697,300	$573,900
Median gross rent	$2,272	$1,664
Housing units	1,517	848
Homeownership rate	58.7%	44.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.3%	26.3%
Unemployment rate	8.7%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Wailua	Waimea
Population	2,915 → 2,544 (-12.7%)	1,865 → 2,070 (+11.0%)
Median household income	$56,927 → $68,548 (+20.4%)	$83,523 → $87,222 (+4.4%)
Median home value	$492,800 → $697,300 (+41.5%)	$462,500 → $573,900 (+24.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,430 → $2,272 (+58.9%)	$1,146 → $1,664 (+45.2%)

Wailua

Population

2,9152,544

Median household income

$56,927$68,548

Median home value

$492,800$697,300

Median gross rent

$1,430$2,272

Waimea

Population

1,8652,070

Median household income

$83,523$87,222

Median home value

$462,500$573,900

Median gross rent

$1,146$1,664

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Wailua	Waimea
Under 5	2.9%	5.1%
5 to 17	14.8%	13.0%
18 to 24	8.1%	3.7%
25 to 34	11.2%	16.8%
35 to 44	12.0%	8.1%
45 to 54	10.8%	14.6%
55 to 64	14.7%	11.4%
65 to 74	15.9%	13.9%
75 and over	9.6%	13.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Wailua	Waimea
White (non-Hispanic)	38.3%	20.8%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	19.4%	28.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	2.7%	9.2%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	15.5%	34.3%
Hispanic or Latino	23.0%	7.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Wailua	Waimea
No high school diploma	7.4%	8.5%
High school graduate	34.4%	39.2%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	26.1%
Bachelor's degree	17.9%	18.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	7.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Wailua	Waimea
Drove alone	73.3%	66.5%
Carpooled	15.4%	13.5%
Public transit	1.1%	1.3%
Walked	2.9%	13.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.3%	4.9%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Wailua	Waimea
1-unit, detached	55.0%	70.4%
1-unit, attached	3.3%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	4.8%	10.3%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	13.0%
20 or more units	32.6%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Wailua	Waimea
Poverty rate	20.5%	7.7%
Average household size	2.67	2.71
Mean commute (minutes)	23	20
Median year structure built	1976	1972