Hawaii County vs Honolulu County

A side-by-side comparison of Hawaii County and Honolulu County: population, income, housing, and more.

Hawaii County and Honolulu County are counties in Hawaii. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Honolulu County has the higher population (1,003,666 vs 203,684 in Hawaii County). Honolulu County has the higher median household income ($104,264 vs $77,215 in Hawaii County). Honolulu County has the higher median home value ($873,000 vs $486,400 in Hawaii County).

Population, income & housing

	Hawaii County	Honolulu County
Population	203,684	1,003,666
Median age	44.1 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$77,215	$104,264
Median home value	$486,400	$873,000
Median gross rent	$1,411	$2,054
Housing units	89,786	372,329
Homeownership rate	73.1%	59.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.9%	37.7%
Unemployment rate	6.2%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hawaii County	Honolulu County
Population	199,459 → 203,684 (+2.1%)	984,821 → 1,003,666 (+1.9%)
Median household income	$62,409 → $77,215 (+23.7%)	$85,857 → $104,264 (+21.4%)
Median home value	$350,000 → $486,400 (+39.0%)	$678,200 → $873,000 (+28.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,180 → $1,411 (+19.6%)	$1,745 → $2,054 (+17.7%)

Hawaii County

Population

199,459203,684

Median household income

$62,409$77,215

Median home value

$350,000$486,400

Median gross rent

$1,180$1,411

Honolulu County

Population

984,8211,003,666

Median household income

$85,857$104,264

Median home value

$678,200$873,000

Median gross rent

$1,745$2,054

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hawaii County	Honolulu County
Under 5	5.3%	5.8%
5 to 17	15.6%	15.0%
18 to 24	6.6%	8.7%
25 to 34	11.2%	14.4%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.6%	11.8%
55 to 64	14.1%	12.0%
65 to 74	14.7%	10.3%
75 and over	8.5%	8.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hawaii County	Honolulu County
White (non-Hispanic)	30.0%	17.4%
Black or African American	0.7%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	20.8%	42.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	11.3%	9.3%
Some other race	0.6%	0.3%
Two or more races	25.0%	19.3%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	9.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hawaii County	Honolulu County
No high school diploma	6.9%	7.1%
High school graduate	29.6%	25.2%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	29.9%
Bachelor's degree	19.0%	23.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.9%	14.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hawaii County	Honolulu County
Drove alone	68.5%	64.0%
Carpooled	15.9%	13.7%
Public transit	0.8%	5.3%
Walked	1.9%	5.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	1.0%
Worked from home	10.9%	8.4%
Other means	1.8%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hawaii County	Honolulu County
1-unit, detached	77.3%	45.6%
1-unit, attached	3.4%	10.9%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	8.7%	11.1%
20 or more units	5.3%	25.4%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Hawaii County	Honolulu County
Poverty rate	14.6%	9.1%
Average household size	2.76	2.88
Mean commute (minutes)	28	27
Median year structure built	1988	1977