Waipahu profile

Living in Waipahu

Waipahu is a medium-sized coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Hawaii. With a population of 39,794 people and 13 constituent neighborhoods, Waipahu is the fifth largest community in Hawaii.

Housing costs in Waipahu are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Hawaii.

Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Waipahu is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Waipahu is a town of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Waipahu who work in maintenance occupations (12.87%), food service (12.26%), and sales jobs (11.51%).

Waipahu is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

In Waipahu, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 36.05 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit.

For the size of the town, public transportation in Waipahu is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the bus. For Waipahu, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.

The percentage of adults in Waipahu who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 17.31% of the adults in Waipahu have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Waipahu in 2010 was $23,601, 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 $94,404 for a family of four. However, Waipahu contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Waipahu is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Waipahu home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Waipahu residents report their race to be Asian, followed by Native Hawaiian. Important ancestries of people in Waipahu include Portuguese, German, Turkish, French, and Irish.

Waipahu also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 42.32%.

The most common language spoken in Waipahu is English. Other important languages spoken here include Pacific Island languages and Tagalog.