About Laie

Laie is a very small coastal town (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Hawaii. With a population of 4,862 people and just one neighborhood, Laie is the 41st largest community in Hawaii.

Laie is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 88.63% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Laie is a town of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Laie who work in teaching (18.81%), office and administrative support jobs (15.02%), and personal care services (8.26%).

Of important note, Laie is also a town of artists. Laie has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Laie's character.

Also of interest is that Laie has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Laie is a small town where college students really create the town feel and character. So many small towns have lost population over the last 20-30 years that having the local college presence in the Laie area, with all of the energy of the students filling area dorms and apartments each fall, really helps Laie maintain a good economy.

The town is also nautical, which means that parts of Laie are somewhat historic and bounded by the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

One of the benefits of Laie is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.61 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.

As is often the case in a small town, Laie doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Laie Information and Demographics

The education level of Laie citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (14.96%): 35.57% of adults in Laie have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Laie in 2000 was $13,494, which is lower middle income relative to Hawaii, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $53,976 for a family of four.

Laie is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Laie home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Laie is Hawaiian, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Laie include English, German, and Scottish.

In addition, Laie has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (18.94%).

The languages spoken by people in Laie are also diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in Laie is English. Other important languages spoken here include Other Pacific Island languages, Chinese, and Spanish.