Hawaii County vs Kauai County

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

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

Hawaii County has the higher population (203,684 vs 73,610 in Kauai County). Kauai County has the higher median household income ($93,612 vs $77,215 in Hawaii County). Kauai County has the higher median home value ($817,900 vs $486,400 in Hawaii County).

Population, income & housing

	Hawaii County	Kauai County
Population	203,684	73,610
Median age	44.1 yrs	42.7 yrs
Median household income	$77,215	$93,612
Median home value	$486,400	$817,900
Median gross rent	$1,411	$1,810
Housing units	89,786	30,392
Homeownership rate	73.1%	67.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.9%	30.2%
Unemployment rate	6.2%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hawaii County	Kauai County
Population	199,459 → 203,684 (+2.1%)	71,769 → 73,610 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$62,409 → $77,215 (+23.7%)	$83,554 → $93,612 (+12.0%)
Median home value	$350,000 → $486,400 (+39.0%)	$570,700 → $817,900 (+43.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,180 → $1,411 (+19.6%)	$1,375 → $1,810 (+31.6%)

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

Kauai County

Population

71,76973,610

Median household income

$83,554$93,612

Median home value

$570,700$817,900

Median gross rent

$1,375$1,810

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hawaii County	Kauai County
Under 5	5.3%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.6%	16.0%
18 to 24	6.6%	6.5%
25 to 34	11.2%	11.4%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.2%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.1%
55 to 64	14.1%	13.6%
65 to 74	14.7%	13.0%
75 and over	8.5%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hawaii County	Kauai County
White (non-Hispanic)	30.0%	29.0%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	20.8%	29.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	11.3%	9.5%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	25.0%	20.9%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	10.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hawaii County	Kauai County
No high school diploma	6.9%	7.3%
High school graduate	29.6%	29.6%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	19.0%	20.8%
Graduate or professional degree	11.9%	9.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hawaii County	Kauai County
Drove alone	68.5%	74.3%
Carpooled	15.9%	13.2%
Public transit	0.8%	1.0%
Walked	1.9%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.9%	7.9%
Other means	1.8%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hawaii County	Kauai County
1-unit, detached	77.3%	69.3%
1-unit, attached	3.4%	6.0%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	8.7%	7.1%
20 or more units	5.3%	10.5%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Hawaii County	Kauai County
Poverty rate	14.6%	8.8%
Average household size	2.76	3.10
Mean commute (minutes)	28	22
Median year structure built	1988	1983