Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetHI-URBAN-HONOLULU-HI · Urban Honolulu, HI 346,323 pop · income 67th pct · 330 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Urban Honolulu
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Urban Honolulu on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
San Juan zona… · lowest
27,500
San Juan zona… · lowest
27,500 median HH income
17.4% of the leader · rank #1
Fitchburg · near
85,420
Fitchburg · near
85,420 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #2
Cockeysville · near
85,422
Cockeysville · near
85,422 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #3
Urban Honolulu · this city
85,428
Urban Honolulu · this city
85,428 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #4
Mount Airy · near
85,433
Mount Airy · near
85,433 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #5
North Olmsted · near
85,435
North Olmsted · near
85,435 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #6
East Honolulu · highest
158,398
East Honolulu · highest
158,398 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Urban Honolulu on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 346,323.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Urban Honolulu lands in the 67th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
67th
percentile, household income
95th
percentile, home value
99th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Urban Honolulu, HI
346,323 people live in Urban Honolulu, Hawaii - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $85,428 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.9%. Typical homes in Urban Honolulu are valued around $834,100, and the median resident age is 42.9 years. 40.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 59.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Hawaii carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 110.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,433 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $280 across Hawaii, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 20.3 minutes, with 55.7% driving alone and 8.9% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 75.0 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Urban Honolulu's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to within-city variation to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Urban Honolulu, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Urban Honolulu?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 9.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Urban Honolulu?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Hawaii, the closest population matches are East Honolulu (50,961 residents, $158,398 income); Hilo (48,223 residents, $78,713 income); Pearl (45,079 residents, $114,682 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Anaheim, CA (344,553 residents); Cleveland, OH (367,523 residents); Henderson, NV (324,523 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Is Urban Honolulu growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -6,581 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.9% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
What can 330 Census tracts reveal inside Urban Honolulu?
PlainCities matches 330 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Urban Honolulu?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 55.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 20.3 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
55.7%
Work from home
8.9%
Public transit
7.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 178,077 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 7.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.0 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, Hawaii average
D
City profile score · Urban Honolulu, HI
49/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share B+
40.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B-
$85,428
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
7.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
110.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Urban Honolulu profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 76/100 (B+) · 40.8%
Household income: 65/100 (B-) · $85,428
Poverty rate: 48/100 (D) · 7.9%
Cost of living: 8/100 (F) · 110.0 index
How does Urban Honolulu compare to other US cities?
Urban Honolulu measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income67% higher than other cities
Home value95% pricier than other cities
Median rent99% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Urban Honolulu against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Hawaii only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Hawaii-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Urban Honolulu near the bottom of Hawaii's cities
Among the 160 Hawaii cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Urban Honolulu ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Urban Honolulu only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#93 of 155
40th percentile in Hawaii
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 160
0th percentile in Hawaii
Median Home Value
#56 of 150
63rd percentile in Hawaii
Poverty Rate
#60 of 160
63rd percentile in Hawaii
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#41 of 160
74th percentile in Hawaii
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Hawaii only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
67th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Urban Honolulu's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$834,1005th percentilemore affordable than 5% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Urban Honolulu's home-value-to-income ratio: 9.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,339 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#117 of 117
Large cities (200,000–999,999)
At 9.8×, Urban Honolulu sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,339 of 15,516 and #117 of 117large cities (200,000–999,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$85,428Urban Honolulu, HI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Urban Honolulu, HI median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Urban Honolulu, HI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)40.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
346,323
Median Income
$85,428
Median Home Value
$834,100
Median Age
42.9
Poverty Rate
7.9%
Labor force participation
59.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
40.8%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Urban Honolulu's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
348,449 residents
2021
346,662 residents
2022
343,398 residents
2023
342,003 residents
2024
342,391 residents
2025
341,868 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
20.3 minutes
Drive Alone
55.7%
Carpool
14.2%
Public Transit
7.9%
Walk
7.7%
Work from Home
8.9%
Other
5.6%
Based on 178,077 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Hawaii statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $280
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Hawaii at $280 (electricity about $220 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Hawaii statewide averages, not a meter reading for Urban Honolulu. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Hawaii's BEA cost-of-living index is 110.0 (Well Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Urban Honolulu is $2,433/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Hawaii statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.0 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Hawaii statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Urban Honolulu sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Urban Honolulu compares to similar-size Hawaii cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.