Kauai County vs Maui County

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

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

Maui County has the higher population (164,632 vs 73,610 in Kauai County). Maui County has the higher median household income ($95,076 vs $93,612 in Kauai County). Maui County has the higher median home value ($858,600 vs $817,900 in Kauai County).

Population, income & housing

	Kauai County	Maui County
Population	73,610	164,632
Median age	42.7 yrs	42.9 yrs
Median household income	$93,612	$95,076
Median home value	$817,900	$858,600
Median gross rent	$1,810	$1,863
Housing units	30,392	72,303
Homeownership rate	67.3%	65.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.2%	30.1%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kauai County	Maui County
Population	71,769 → 73,610 (+2.6%)	165,979 → 164,632 (-0.8%)
Median household income	$83,554 → $93,612 (+12.0%)	$80,948 → $95,076 (+17.5%)
Median home value	$570,700 → $817,900 (+43.3%)	$633,500 → $858,600 (+35.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,375 → $1,810 (+31.6%)	$1,510 → $1,863 (+23.4%)

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

Maui County

Population

165,979164,632

Median household income

$80,948$95,076

Median home value

$633,500$858,600

Median gross rent

$1,510$1,863

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kauai County	Maui County
Under 5	5.4%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.0%	15.7%
18 to 24	6.5%	6.6%
25 to 34	11.4%	11.5%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.7%
45 to 54	12.1%	12.9%
55 to 64	13.6%	14.1%
65 to 74	13.0%	12.3%
75 and over	8.7%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kauai County	Maui County
White (non-Hispanic)	29.0%	29.4%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	29.0%	27.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	9.5%	10.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	20.9%	21.0%
Hispanic or Latino	10.5%	10.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kauai County	Maui County
No high school diploma	7.3%	7.2%
High school graduate	29.6%	30.1%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	32.6%
Bachelor's degree	20.8%	20.0%
Graduate or professional degree	9.5%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kauai County	Maui County
Drove alone	74.3%	71.6%
Carpooled	13.2%	12.7%
Public transit	1.0%	1.3%
Walked	2.6%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.6%
Worked from home	7.9%	9.4%
Other means	0.9%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kauai County	Maui County
1-unit, detached	69.3%	59.2%
1-unit, attached	6.0%	7.4%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	11.6%
20 or more units	10.5%	14.3%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Kauai County	Maui County
Poverty rate	8.8%	9.8%
Average household size	3.10	2.92
Mean commute (minutes)	22	23
Median year structure built	1983	1985