Mililani Mauka, East Honolulu, Waikele: These cities aren’t just some of the best places to live in Hawaii. They are also home to some of the richest people in the Aloha State.
Mililani Mauka in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $114,886 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 2.2893909920694298%.
If you’re thinking of moving to one of these towns, you’ll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Hawaii share common characteristics such as having a genius level populous, sky high home prices, and a Pleasantville level of married couples.
How did we come up with these mega wealthy cities? We analyzed Census data from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey for the 59 places in Hawaii with more than 5,000 people.
Here are the 10 richest places in Hawaii for 2021:
For more on how we calculated the top ten, read on or skip to the end for the full list of the richest cities in Hawaii.
Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Hawaii:
The 10 Richest Cities In Hawaii For 2021
1. Mililani Mauka
/10
Population: 20,090
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Income: $114,886
Unemployment Rate: 1.7%
Poverty Rate: 2.3%
More on Mililani Mauka: Real Estate | Photos
2. East Honolulu
/10
Population: 47,540
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Income: $133,165
Unemployment Rate: 2.0%
Poverty Rate: 3.3%
More on East Honolulu: Real Estate | Photos
3. Waikele
/10
Population: 7,442
Rank Last Year: 3 (No Change)
Median Income: $107,578
Unemployment Rate: 1.0%
Poverty Rate: 3.6%
More on Waikele: Real Estate | Photos
4. West Loch Estate
/10
Population: 6,139
Rank Last Year: 4 (No Change)
Median Income: $106,938
Unemployment Rate: 2.0%
Poverty Rate: 2.9%
More on West Loch Estate: Real Estate
5. Ahuimanu
/10
Population: 8,023
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 2)
Median Income: $112,875
Unemployment Rate: 2.5%
Poverty Rate: 3.7%
More on Ahuimanu: Real Estate | Photos
6. Ewa Gentry
/10
Population: 25,641
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 1)
Median Income: $111,272
Unemployment Rate: 2.8%
Poverty Rate: 3.7%
More on Ewa Gentry: Real Estate | Photos
7. Royal Kunia
/10
Population: 14,565
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 3)
Median Income: $116,290
Unemployment Rate: 3.4%
Poverty Rate: 2.9%
More on Royal Kunia: Real Estate
8. Pearl City
/10
Population: 45,605
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 4)
Median Income: $100,057
Unemployment Rate: 2.8%
Poverty Rate: 3.9%
More on Pearl City: Real Estate
9. Ocean Pointe
/10
Population: 14,989
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 3)
Median Income: $119,934
Unemployment Rate: 3.1%
Poverty Rate: 5.1%
More on Ocean Pointe: Real Estate | Photos
10. Mililani Town
/10
Population: 27,562
Rank Last Year: 15 (Up 5)
Median Income: $99,460
Unemployment Rate: 2.3%
Poverty Rate: 4.7%
More on Mililani Town: Real Estate | Photos
How We Determined The Richest Places In Hawaii For 2021
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.
However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2015-2019 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
- Unemployment Rate
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.
After we collected the data for all 59 places with more than 5,000 people in Hawaii, we ranked each place from 1 to 59 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Mililani Mauka, crowned the “Richest City In Hawaii For 2021”. You can download the data here.
You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 59 places.
There You Have It – The Wealthiest Places In Hawaii For 2021
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Hawaii, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Hawaii.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Hawaii, according to data:
Poorest: Hawaiian Ocean View
2nd Poorest: Hawaiian Beaches
3rd Poorest: Makaha
For more Hawaii reading, check out:
