Makawao vs Wailea

A side-by-side comparison of Makawao and Wailea: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Makawao has the higher population (7,263 vs 6,571 in Wailea). Makawao has the higher median household income ($96,116 vs $89,375 in Wailea). Wailea has the higher median home value ($1,363,700 vs $819,600 in Makawao).

Population, income & housing

	Makawao	Wailea
Population	7,263	6,571
Median age	43.5 yrs	55.8 yrs
Median household income	$96,116	$89,375
Median home value	$819,600	$1,363,700
Median gross rent	$1,699	$2,485
Housing units	2,759	6,125
Homeownership rate	65.1%	67.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.0%	44.9%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Makawao	Wailea
Population	7,341 → 7,263 (-1.1%)	6,218 → 6,571 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$82,316 → $96,116 (+16.8%)	$81,932 → $89,375 (+9.1%)
Median home value	$603,800 → $819,600 (+35.7%)	$1,042,100 → $1,363,700 (+30.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,336 → $1,699 (+27.2%)	$1,891 → $2,485 (+31.4%)

Makawao

Population

7,3417,263

Median household income

$82,316$96,116

Median home value

$603,800$819,600

Median gross rent

$1,336$1,699

Wailea

Population

6,2186,571

Median household income

$81,932$89,375

Median home value

$1,042,100$1,363,700

Median gross rent

$1,891$2,485

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Makawao	Wailea
Under 5	6.9%	2.6%
5 to 17	16.2%	9.3%
18 to 24	6.3%	5.4%
25 to 34	8.6%	10.3%
35 to 44	14.0%	8.8%
45 to 54	11.8%	11.7%
55 to 64	15.9%	16.6%
65 to 74	10.5%	21.0%
75 and over	9.8%	14.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Makawao	Wailea
White (non-Hispanic)	29.0%	70.2%
Black or African American	0.2%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	16.7%	11.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	15.0%	1.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	24.9%	8.3%
Hispanic or Latino	14.1%	8.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Makawao	Wailea
No high school diploma	4.2%	2.8%
High school graduate	26.7%	19.8%
Some college or associate's	39.1%	32.6%
Bachelor's degree	19.8%	24.0%
Graduate or professional degree	10.1%	20.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Makawao	Wailea
Drove alone	73.2%	57.5%
Carpooled	10.0%	11.5%
Public transit	0.3%	1.1%
Walked	3.3%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	12.6%	27.0%
Other means	0.6%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Makawao	Wailea
1-unit, detached	84.6%	33.9%
1-unit, attached	7.8%	4.2%
2 to 4 units	2.5%	12.7%
5 to 19 units	1.9%	27.9%
20 or more units	2.1%	21.3%
Mobile home & other	1.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Makawao	Wailea
Poverty rate	10.5%	12.7%
Average household size	2.76	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	27	18
Median year structure built	1982	1988