Maui County, HI

County Profile

164,522 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Maui County, HI.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 23% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 10% of 1,255 counties79
Growth1058th of 1,226 counties29
Housing affordability1247th of 1,255 counties42
ClimateTop 2% of 1,254 counties87
Physical resilience1072nd of 1,255 counties29
Access1180th of 1,255 counties43
Economic stabilityTop 46% of 1,255 counties64
The quick read

Maui County ranks in the top 10% of published profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.2% and median household income of $97,161.

Residential permitting has slowed: 520 units authorized over the past twelve months, 54% below the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and tsunami.

At a glance

Population
164,522
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$97,161
Top 6% nationally
Density
142/sq mi
1161.5 sq mi of land
Median age
43.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Maui County
Hawaii
Metro area
Kahului-Wailuku, HI
Nearest major airport
HNL
91 mi · Daniel K Inouye Intl
Median home value
$904,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 90% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 1.3% over the past year, to 80,517 employed residents.

31% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 78% of measured US locations.

Household income is higher than at least 94% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,901$97,161Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,227$45,622Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate9.2%Bottom 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.1 minBottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher31.0%Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment80,517Top 32%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.5%Bottom 27%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.3%Top 12%June 2026
Labor force83,219Top 32%June 2026
Labor force participation63.8%Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.1%Top 46%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 10%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/069.12.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.2% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202497k88k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $97,161 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Kahului-Wailuku, HI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Waiters and Waitresses2,700$82,550
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,590$37,840
Retail Salespersons2,510$39,630
Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners2,260$53,030
Cooks, Restaurant1,770$49,560
General and Operations Managers1,650$108,010

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

27% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 43% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
34
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
27.2%
Reading proficiency
43.5%
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Maui High SchoolHawaii Department of Education1,72514.9
Henry Perrine Baldwin High SchoolHawaii Department of Education1,26617.6
King Kekaulike High SchoolHawaii Department of Education1,21714.7
Maui Waena Intermediate SchoolHawaii Department of Education1,01514.722%52%
Samuel Enoka Kalama Intermediate SchoolHawaii Department of Education94414.127%42%
Iao Intermediate SchoolHawaii Department of Education89314.917%47%
Lahainaluna High SchoolHawaii Department of Education81314.0
Kahului Elementary SchoolHawaii Department of Education79513.724%35%
Puu Kukui Elementary SchoolHawaii Department of Education75016.039%57%
Kihei Elementary SchoolHawaii Department of Education72712.337%45%
Kihei Charter School · charterHawaii Department of Education67015.239%59%
Lihikai Elementary SchoolHawaii Department of Education63214.726%38%

51.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Hawaii’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,916 takes 24% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 9.3 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
23.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
9.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,916
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$904,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income9.31Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate65.6%Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±13172,279Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$82$1,916Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,011$904,700Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.7%Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate22.7%Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
29/ 100
Ranks 1058 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 1% since 2020, reaching 163,688 in 2024.

At 3.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
520
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.2
Top 47% nationally
Year over year
−54%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
25.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024165k164k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025906526
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+71%).

Weather & climate

9 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 64°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 16.2 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 21, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station KAHULUI AP, 11.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index33.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation16.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low64°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months91991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index21.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing8°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
21
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
33
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

29 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and tsunami.

Volcanic activityModerate
EarthquakeHigh
WildfireModerate
Inland floodingHigh
LightningModerate
TsunamiHigh

Low or minimal exposure: hurricane, landslide, coastal flooding, drought, tornado, ice storm, hail, winter weather, strong wind.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Maui County records 1.3 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 4.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 25.6 per 100,000 residents in Maui County.

Homicide
1.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
4.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
25.6
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
14.0
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Maui County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Maui County rather than Maui County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 91 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Daniel K Inouye IntlHNL91 mi12,360 ft
Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Fld)JRF100 mi8,365 ft
Hilo IntlITO128 mi9,803 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
55
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.