Kaunakakai vs Waikapu

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

Kaunakakai and Waikapu 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 3,645 in Waikapu). Waikapu has the higher median household income ($121,618 vs $76,944 in Kaunakakai). Waikapu has the higher median home value ($837,700 vs $335,200 in Kaunakakai).

Population, income & housing

	Kaunakakai	Waikapu
Population	3,721	3,645
Median age	33.7 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$76,944	$121,618
Median home value	$335,200	$837,700
Median gross rent	$905	$2,696
Housing units	1,455	1,148
Homeownership rate	56.7%	82.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%	39.5%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	2.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kaunakakai	Waikapu
Population	3,038 → 3,721 (+22.5%)	3,875 → 3,645 (-5.9%)
Median household income	$35,000 → $76,944 (+119.8%)	$115,338 → $121,618 (+5.4%)
Median home value	$307,300 → $335,200 (+9.1%)	$625,900 → $837,700 (+33.8%)
Median gross rent	$836 → $905 (+8.3%)	$2,250 → $2,696 (+19.8%)

Kaunakakai

Population

3,0383,721

Median household income

$35,000$76,944

Median home value

$307,300$335,200

Median gross rent

$836$905

Waikapu

Population

3,8753,645

Median household income

$115,338$121,618

Median home value

$625,900$837,700

Median gross rent

$2,250$2,696

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kaunakakai	Waikapu
Under 5	2.4%	5.7%
5 to 17	26.9%	23.3%
18 to 24	8.0%	5.4%
25 to 34	15.6%	13.1%
35 to 44	6.3%	16.1%
45 to 54	14.2%	13.4%
55 to 64	8.1%	9.0%
65 to 74	9.5%	9.2%
75 and over	9.1%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kaunakakai	Waikapu
White (non-Hispanic)	8.8%	24.3%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	11.2%	26.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	34.8%	6.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	32.1%	29.5%
Hispanic or Latino	13.0%	12.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kaunakakai	Waikapu
No high school diploma	10.4%	2.0%
High school graduate	34.7%	27.0%
Some college or associate's	38.2%	31.6%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	25.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	14.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kaunakakai	Waikapu
Drove alone	63.4%	74.9%
Carpooled	9.9%	19.1%
Public transit	3.2%	0.0%
Walked	6.8%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.8%	5.3%
Other means	7.0%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kaunakakai	Waikapu
1-unit, detached	76.4%	95.3%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	4.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	4.9%	0.0%
20 or more units	7.3%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Kaunakakai	Waikapu
Poverty rate	18.8%	1.9%
Average household size	3.38	3.22
Mean commute (minutes)	13	22
Median year structure built	1975	2002