Average salary in Hawaii: $70,270 a year
The mean annual wage across every job BLS counts in Hawaii, with the median, the pay spread, the job groups and the occupations behind it.
The average salary in Hawaii is $70,270 a year ($33.78 an hour): that is the mean annual wage across 627,530 jobs in the BLS May 2025 survey. The median is $56,320 ($27.08 an hour), so half of those jobs paid less and half paid more. The mean sits above the median because a smaller number of very high wages pulls it up.
How Hawaii compares with the United States
Hawaii's mean salary is $500 (0.7%) above the U.S. figure of $69,770; its median is $5,340 (10.5%) above the U.S. figure of $50,980. Among the 50 states and DC, Hawaii ranks 17th by mean salary and 15th by median salary (1 = highest; calculated from the BLS figures).
| Measure | Hawaii | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Mean (average) salary | $70,270 | $69,770 |
| Median salary | $56,320 | $50,980 |
| Mean hourly wage | $33.78 | $33.54 |
| Median hourly wage | $27.08 | $24.51 |
| Jobs counted | 627,530 | 155,495,730 |
Prices matter as much as pay. BEA's regional price parity for Hawaii in 2024 is 110.0, where the United States = 100: overall prices there were about 10.0% above the national price level. A salary goes further where the index is lower.
What jobs in Hawaii pay, from low to high
One job in ten in Hawaii paid less than $34,170 a year, and one in ten paid more than $123,660. A quarter paid less than $40,370; a quarter paid more than $81,510.
| Area | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | $34,170 | $40,370 | $56,320 | $81,510 | $123,660 |
| United States | $31,200 | $37,590 | $50,980 | $80,520 | $128,560 |
Pay by job group in Hawaii
The largest group in Hawaii is food preparation and serving related, with 82,670 jobs (13% of the total, calculated). The best-paid group by median is management ($116,040); the lowest-paid is food preparation and serving related ($39,480). Where BLS does not release a figure, the table says so.
| Job group | Jobs | Median salary | Mean (average) salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food Preparation and Serving Related | 82,670 | $39,480 | $49,360 |
| Office and Administrative Support | 74,880 | $48,820 | $52,990 |
| Sales and Related | 51,000 | $41,990 | $50,040 |
| Transportation and Material Moving | 50,310 | $47,940 | $65,410 |
| Management | 43,440 | $116,040 | $128,330 |
| Educational Instruction and Library | 40,950 | $59,510 | $66,750 |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical | 35,830 | $106,080 | $128,080 |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance | 32,910 | $46,840 | $47,470 |
| Business and Financial Operations | 30,330 | $78,430 | $85,650 |
| Construction and Extraction | 29,590 | $82,440 | $84,200 |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair | 26,140 | $66,130 | $71,090 |
| Healthcare Support | 21,350 | $44,990 | $49,540 |
| Protective Service | 20,920 | $55,760 | $63,160 |
| Personal Care and Service | 17,880 | $41,000 | $45,620 |
| Production | 13,640 | $48,690 | $56,800 |
| Computer and Mathematical | 12,220 | $98,990 | $103,410 |
| Community and Social Service | 11,520 | $58,480 | $64,690 |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media | 9,430 | $57,830 | $80,310 |
| Architecture and Engineering | 9,270 | $98,110 | $101,930 |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science | 7,530 | $74,070 | $79,620 |
| Legal | 4,280 | $91,810 | $105,000 |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry | 1,440 | $43,560 | $46,420 |
The occupations with the most jobs in Hawaii
8 of the 12 largest occupations in Hawaii with a published annual median paid a median below the all-jobs median of $56,320 (calculated from the BLS figures).
| Occupation | Jobs | Median salary |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 24,130 | $35,250 |
| Retail Salespersons | 19,180 | $37,790 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 14,090 | $62,390 |
| General and Operations Managers | 13,380 | $108,180 |
| Registered Nurses | 12,940 | $136,320 |
| Office Clerks, General | 12,930 | $42,340 |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 11,230 | $37,710 |
| Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 11,120 | $51,600 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | 11,090 | $45,420 |
| Cashiers | 10,780 | $36,780 |
| Security Guards | 10,160 | $42,820 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers | 10,090 | $63,080 |
Go deeper
The best-paid occupations, ranked.
Open →Pay floorHawaii minimum wageThe state's hourly floor.
Open →PricesCost of living in HawaiiWhat a salary buys there.
Open →Between jobsHawaii unemployment benefitsThe weekly maximum and weeks payable.
Open →CalculatorSalary to hourly calculatorConvert any salary or hourly rate.
Open →NegotiateSalary negotiationAsk for the top of the range.
Open →All statesAverage salary by stateEvery state on one page.
Open →Disclosure: TryHired makes HIRED, a paid job-search program, so we have a conflict of interest when we mention it. Everything on this page is free to use without buying anything.
Questions people ask
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How this page is built
Every pay figure is a BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 estimate for all occupations in Hawaii (occupation code 00-0000), copied from BLS's data file; the job-group and occupation rows come from the same file. The average is BLS's mean wage (total wages divided by jobs); the median is the wage in the middle. OEWS wages are straight-time gross pay: they include commissions, tips, production bonuses and cost-of-living allowances, and leave out overtime premiums, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. BLS turns hourly wages into annual ones at 2,080 hours (40 hours for 52 weeks). Ranks, differences and shares are TryHired calculations from the BLS figures. Price levels are BEA Regional Price Parities.
- Household income: this page reports pay per job, not household or family income, which the Census Bureau measures differently.
- Starting pay: the figures include experienced workers. Entry-level pay is usually lower.
- Take-home pay: every figure is before taxes and deductions.
- Self-employment and farm work: not covered by OEWS (see the FAQ).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates: national, state and metropolitan-area data files (public domain).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS technical notes: what the survey counts as wages and jobs.
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released Feb 19, 2026).