Urban Honolulu, HI
Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Urban Honolulu ranks 26th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 15th for income. A household earns $105,205 a year while median rent runs $2,001/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (14th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (296th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 283rd and home prices 296th 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 Urban Honolulu, your take-home is worth about $51,420 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
- 15th of 300↑20.3%$105,205
- 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.
- 294th of 300111 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $94,813
- Per-capita income
- $47,967
- Full-time pay
- $50,835
Housing
- Median rent
- 283rd of 300↑12.8%$2,001/mo
- Home value
- 296th of 300↑24.5%$920,600
- Property tax
- $2,701/yr · 0.3%
- Sales tax
- 4.50%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 43rd of 3003.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 77th of 30040.1%
- Avg commute
- 234th of 30027.3 min
People
- Population
- 998,747
- Population change
- +2.5%
- Median age
- 40.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 20.5%
- Broadband
- 93.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 14th of 30031
- Natural-hazard loss
- 257th of 300$27/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 107th of 30017.2%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 5.3%
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
- + Education
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — ewa kalaeloa ap.
What jobs pay in Urban Honolulu
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $218,990
- Pharmacists
- $165,090
- IT managers
- $141,510
- Registered nurses
- $139,260
- Financial managers
- $134,330
- Lawyers
- $120,870
- Software developers
- $120,230
- General & operations managers
- $113,940
- Electricians
- $100,270
- Civil engineers
- $94,600
- Carpenters
- $94,310
- Police officers
- $83,820
- Plumbers
- $81,120
- Construction laborers
- $77,960
- Accountants & auditors
- $74,990
- Secondary school teachers
- $74,310
- Elementary school teachers
- $73,080
- Waiters & waitresses
- $60,250
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,330
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $55,280
- Customer service reps
- $44,630
- Retail salespersons
- $37,400
- Janitors
- $36,760
- Cashiers
- $35,930
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 Urban Honolulu 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.
- California7,543
- Texas3,895
- Virginia3,793
- Washington3,018
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Urban Honolulu
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Urban Honolulu metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Urban Honolulu metro?
- Median gross rent across the Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area is $2,001 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Urban Honolulu.
- What is the median household income in the Urban Honolulu metro?
- A typical household in the Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area earns $105,205 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Urban Honolulu expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area runs about 11% 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 Urban Honolulu metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $94,813 (versus its face value of $105,205). CityLedger rates the Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Urban Honolulu metro?
- The median home value across the Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area is $920,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Urban Honolulu metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area is 3.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).