Kihei vs Wailuku

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

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

Kihei has the higher population (22,564 vs 15,754 in Wailuku). Wailuku has the higher median household income ($93,958 vs $87,568 in Kihei). Kihei has the higher median home value ($871,600 vs $781,700 in Wailuku).

Population, income & housing

	Kihei	Wailuku
Population	22,564	15,754
Median age	42.0 yrs	44.8 yrs
Median household income	$87,568	$93,958
Median home value	$871,600	$781,700
Median gross rent	$2,021	$1,747
Housing units	12,072	6,720
Homeownership rate	59.4%	69.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.0%	35.8%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kihei	Wailuku
Population	22,402 → 22,564 (+0.7%)	17,708 → 15,754 (-11.0%)
Median household income	$78,869 → $87,568 (+11.0%)	$73,576 → $93,958 (+27.7%)
Median home value	$590,200 → $871,600 (+47.7%)	$544,900 → $781,700 (+43.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,642 → $2,021 (+23.1%)	$1,285 → $1,747 (+36.0%)

Kihei

Population

22,40222,564

Median household income

$78,869$87,568

Median home value

$590,200$871,600

Median gross rent

$1,642$2,021

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)

	Kihei	Wailuku
Under 5	5.2%	5.9%
5 to 17	14.8%	17.0%
18 to 24	8.3%	5.6%
25 to 34	12.2%	8.9%
35 to 44	14.4%	12.8%
45 to 54	13.1%	13.4%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.4%
65 to 74	10.6%	12.4%
75 and over	6.2%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kihei	Wailuku
White (non-Hispanic)	41.3%	21.1%
Black or African American	1.3%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	20.2%	35.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	2.8%	9.5%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	20.4%	26.0%
Hispanic or Latino	13.4%	7.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kihei	Wailuku
No high school diploma	5.6%	6.6%
High school graduate	28.8%	26.1%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	31.5%
Bachelor's degree	21.9%	24.1%
Graduate or professional degree	10.1%	11.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kihei	Wailuku
Drove alone	70.8%	73.5%
Carpooled	12.7%	11.8%
Public transit	1.4%	0.3%
Walked	1.6%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	12.1%	7.4%
Other means	1.0%	3.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kihei	Wailuku
1-unit, detached	35.3%	55.2%
1-unit, attached	6.7%	11.0%
2 to 4 units	10.7%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	17.9%	15.5%
20 or more units	28.9%	9.4%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Kihei	Wailuku
Poverty rate	9.3%	5.4%
Average household size	2.75	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	21	21
Median year structure built	1987	1987