Kahului, HI
Kahului-Wailuku, HI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Kahului-Wailuku, HI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Kahului ranks 36th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 21st for income. A household earns $101,168 a year while median rent runs $1,943/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 9% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (7th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (298th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 280th and home prices 298th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Kahului, your take-home is worth about $52,158 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 21st of 300↑25.3%$101,168
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 289th of 300109 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $92,481
- Per-capita income
- $47,493
- Full-time pay
- $50,275
Housing
- Median rent
- 280th of 300↑20.3%$1,943/mo
- Home value
- 298th of 300↑52.1%$1,061,300
- Property tax
- $1,552/yr · 0.1%
- Sales tax
- 4.50%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 84th of 3003.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 127th of 30035.5%
- Avg commute
- 98th of 30022.8 min
People
- Population
- 163,769
- Population change
- -2.2%
- Median age
- 43.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 17.8%
- Broadband
- 91%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 7th of 30021
- Natural-hazard loss
- 274th of 300$34/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 82nd of 30016.6%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 6.7%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — kahului ap.
What jobs pay in Kahului
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $160,440
- IT managers
- $150,900
- Lawyers
- $148,370
- Registered nurses
- $144,350
- Software developers
- $133,870
- Financial managers
- $128,990
- General & operations managers
- $108,010
- Civil engineers
- $101,530
- Electricians
- $98,480
- Police officers
- $83,790
- Waiters & waitresses
- $82,550
- Carpenters
- $82,110
- Construction laborers
- $79,760
- Accountants & auditors
- $78,630
- Plumbers
- $77,610
- Secondary school teachers
- $76,750
- Elementary school teachers
- $71,830
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $63,980
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $63,420
- Customer service reps
- $49,750
- Retail salespersons
- $39,630
- Cashiers
- $39,010
- Janitors
- $38,810
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Kahului metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Hawaii are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California1,718
- Washington453
- Oregon434
- Colorado366
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Kahului
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Kahului metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Kahului metro?
- Median gross rent across the Kahului-Wailuku, HI Metro Area is $1,943 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Kahului.
- What is the median household income in the Kahului metro?
- A typical household in the Kahului-Wailuku, HI Metro Area earns $101,168 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Kahului expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Kahului-Wailuku, HI Metro Area runs about 9% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Kahului metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $92,481 (versus its face value of $101,168). CityLedger rates the Kahului-Wailuku, HI Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Kahului metro?
- The median home value across the Kahului-Wailuku, HI Metro Area is $1,061,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Kahului metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Kahului-Wailuku, HI Metro Area is 3.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).