Kaunakakai vs Paia

A side-by-side comparison of Kaunakakai and Paia: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Kaunakakai has the higher population (3,721 vs 2,629 in Paia). Paia has the higher median household income ($120,735 vs $76,944 in Kaunakakai). Paia has the higher median home value ($881,100 vs $335,200 in Kaunakakai).

Population, income & housing

	Kaunakakai	Paia
Population	3,721	2,629
Median age	33.7 yrs	37.5 yrs
Median household income	$76,944	$120,735
Median home value	$335,200	$881,100
Median gross rent	$905	$2,446
Housing units	1,455	973
Homeownership rate	56.7%	60.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%	34.0%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	11.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kaunakakai	Paia
Population	3,038 → 3,721 (+22.5%)	2,249 → 2,629 (+16.9%)
Median household income	$35,000 → $76,944 (+119.8%)	$100,250 → $120,735 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$307,300 → $335,200 (+9.1%)	$695,400 → $881,100 (+26.7%)
Median gross rent	$836 → $905 (+8.3%)	$2,210 → $2,446 (+10.7%)

Kaunakakai

Population

3,0383,721

Median household income

$35,000$76,944

Median home value

$307,300$335,200

Median gross rent

$836$905

Paia

Population

2,2492,629

Median household income

$100,250$120,735

Median home value

$695,400$881,100

Median gross rent

$2,210$2,446

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kaunakakai	Paia
Under 5	2.4%	5.5%
5 to 17	26.9%	15.2%
18 to 24	8.0%	9.2%
25 to 34	15.6%	17.2%
35 to 44	6.3%	19.7%
45 to 54	14.2%	10.8%
55 to 64	8.1%	9.4%
65 to 74	9.5%	10.7%
75 and over	9.1%	2.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kaunakakai	Paia
White (non-Hispanic)	8.8%	39.0%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.5%
Asian	11.2%	12.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	34.8%	15.3%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	32.1%	18.1%
Hispanic or Latino	13.0%	14.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kaunakakai	Paia
No high school diploma	10.4%	10.4%
High school graduate	34.7%	22.6%
Some college or associate's	38.2%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	25.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kaunakakai	Paia
Drove alone	63.4%	59.9%
Carpooled	9.9%	10.8%
Public transit	3.2%	0.1%
Walked	6.8%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.9%
Worked from home	9.8%	25.3%
Other means	7.0%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kaunakakai	Paia
1-unit, detached	76.4%	76.8%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	8.2%
2 to 4 units	4.4%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	4.9%	1.5%
20 or more units	7.3%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Kaunakakai	Paia
Poverty rate	18.8%	15.1%
Average household size	3.38	3.12
Mean commute (minutes)	13	33
Median year structure built	1975	1976