Kahului vs Wailuku

A side-by-side comparison of Kahului and Wailuku: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Kahului has the higher population (27,068 vs 15,754 in Wailuku). Wailuku has the higher median household income ($93,958 vs $92,062 in Kahului). Kahului has the higher median home value ($833,200 vs $781,700 in Wailuku).

Population, income & housing

	Kahului	Wailuku
Population	27,068	15,754
Median age	43.5 yrs	44.8 yrs
Median household income	$92,062	$93,958
Median home value	$833,200	$781,700
Median gross rent	$1,473	$1,747
Housing units	8,681	6,720
Homeownership rate	61.5%	69.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.6%	35.8%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kahului	Wailuku
Population	31,336 → 27,068 (-13.6%)	17,708 → 15,754 (-11.0%)
Median household income	$86,129 → $92,062 (+6.9%)	$73,576 → $93,958 (+27.7%)
Median home value	$606,600 → $833,200 (+37.4%)	$544,900 → $781,700 (+43.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,346 → $1,473 (+9.4%)	$1,285 → $1,747 (+36.0%)

Kahului

Population

31,33627,068

Median household income

$86,129$92,062

Median home value

$606,600$833,200

Median gross rent

$1,346$1,473

Wailuku

Population

17,70815,754

Median household income

$73,576$93,958

Median home value

$544,900$781,700

Median gross rent

$1,285$1,747

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kahului	Wailuku
Under 5	4.5%	5.9%
5 to 17	15.2%	17.0%
18 to 24	7.3%	5.6%
25 to 34	11.0%	8.9%
35 to 44	14.7%	12.8%
45 to 54	12.8%	13.4%
55 to 64	14.4%	15.4%
65 to 74	10.1%	12.4%
75 and over	10.0%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kahului	Wailuku
White (non-Hispanic)	10.2%	21.1%
Black or African American	0.9%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	55.0%	35.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	9.4%	9.5%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	17.5%	26.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.8%	7.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kahului	Wailuku
No high school diploma	12.8%	6.6%
High school graduate	31.3%	26.1%
Some college or associate's	31.3%	31.5%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	24.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	11.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kahului	Wailuku
Drove alone	70.5%	73.5%
Carpooled	17.6%	11.8%
Public transit	2.6%	0.3%
Walked	1.4%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	4.4%	7.4%
Other means	3.0%	3.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kahului	Wailuku
1-unit, detached	70.2%	55.2%
1-unit, attached	11.1%	11.0%
2 to 4 units	2.0%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	5.5%	15.5%
20 or more units	9.6%	9.4%
Mobile home & other	1.7%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Kahului	Wailuku
Poverty rate	9.3%	5.4%
Average household size	3.14	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	22	21
Median year structure built	1979	1987