Kaunakakai is a very small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Hawaii. With a population of 3,419 people and just one neighborhood, Kaunakakai is the 38th largest community in Hawaii.
Kaunakakai is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Kaunakakai is a town of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Kaunakakai who work in sales jobs (12.60%), healthcare (11.40%), and maintenance occupations (9.51%).
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.89% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
One of the nice things about Kaunakakai is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
Residents of the town have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 14.51 minutes getting to work every day.
The percentage of adults in Kaunakakai with college degrees is slightly lower than the national average of 21.84% for all communities. 15.95% of adults in Kaunakakai have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Kaunakakai in 2022 was $28,087, which is low income relative to Hawaii, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $112,348 for a family of four. However, Kaunakakai contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Kaunakakai is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Kaunakakai home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Kaunakakai residents report their race to be Native Hawaiian, followed by Asian. Kaunakakai also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.17% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Kaunakakai include German, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and Russian.
The most common language spoken in Kaunakakai is English. Other important languages spoken here include Pacific Island languages and German/Yiddish.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
This neighborhood has wide open spaces, few people, and lots of space to stretch out. If you like locations that fit that description, you may like this neighborhood. Based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, with only 36 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 91.6% of America. Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
According to NeighborhoodScout's research, is better suited for first-time home buyers than 86.4% of neighborhoods in the state. Most homes here are priced below the state's median house value, yet maintain comparably good appreciation rates over the last decade relative to other neighborhoods in Hawaii. Along with an exclusive multi-metric measure of neighborhood quality developed by NeighborhoodScout that scores high here in this neighborhood, this means that buying into the neighborhood is not only an accessible option but considered a decent first time home buyer choice for building equity in your first home, while being in a quality neighborhood
Some neighborhoods have more internal cohesiveness than others. While other neighborhoods feel like a collection of strangers who just happen to live near each other. Sometimes this comes down to not only the personalities of the people in a place, but how long people have been together in that neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research has revealed some interesting things about the rootedness of people in the neighborhood. More residents of the neighborhood live here today that also were living in this same neighborhood five years ago than is found in 96.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. This neighborhood is really made up of people who know each other, don't move often, and have lived here in this very neighborhood for quite a while.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Kaunakakai are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 48.9% of the neighborhoods in America. With 31.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 82.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 34.2% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 27.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (22.5%), and 15.0% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 84.0% of households.
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Kaunakakai, HI, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (7.6%). There are also a number of people of Mexican ancestry (5.8%), and residents who report German roots (3.3%), and some of the residents are also of Norwegian ancestry (1.9%), along with some Spanish ancestry residents (1.6%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (55.4% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (60.7%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (20.7%) and 7.9% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.