Hawaii statistical areas

The U.S. State of Hawaiʻi currently has four statistical areas that have been delineated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). On July 21, 2023, the OMB delineated two metropolitan statistical areas and two micropolitan statistical areas in Hawaiʻi.^[1] As of 2023, the most populous of these is the Urban Honolulu, HI MSA, anchored by Hawaiʻi's capital and largest city, Honolulu, on the island of Oahu.

Background

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has designated more than 1,000 statistical areas for the United States and Puerto Rico.^[2] These statistical areas are important geographic delineations of population clusters used by the OMB, the United States Census Bureau, planning organizations, and federal, state, and local government entities.

The OMB defines a core-based statistical area (commonly referred to as a CBSA) as the county or counties (or county-equivalents) surrounding at least one densely-settled core of at least 10,000 population,^[2] "plus adjacent counties having a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured through commuting ties with the counties containing the core".^[2] The OMB further divides core-based statistical areas based on population into metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for those with at least 50,000 and micropolitan statistical areas (μSAs) for those with 10,000 to 49,999 people.^[2]

The OMB defines a combined statistical area (CSA) as two or more adjacent core-based statistical areas where the employment interchange rate (% commuting from A to B plus % commuting from B to A) is at least 15%.^[2] The primary statistical areas (PSAs) include all combined statistical areas and any core-based statistical area that is not a constituent of a combined statistical area.

Table

The four United States statistical areas and five counties of the State of Hawaiʻi
Core-based statistical area^[1]	2023 population (est.)^[3]	County-equivalent	2023 population (est.)^[3]
Urban Honolulu, HI MSA	989,408	City and County of Honolulu	989,408
Hilo-Kailua, HI μSA	207,615	Hawaii County	207,615
Kahului-Wailuku, HI MSA	164,264	Maui County	164,183
Kahului-Wailuku, HI MSA	164,264	Kalawao County	81
Kapaa, HI μSA	73,851	Kauai County	73,851
State of Hawaiʻi			1,435,138

Primary statistical areas

Primary statistical areas (PSAs) include all combined statistical areas and any core-based statistical area that is not a constituent of a combined statistical area. Of the four statistical areas of Hawaiʻi, all are PSAs comprising two metropolitan statistical areas and two micropolitan statistical areas.

The four primary statistical areas of the State of Hawaiʻi
2020 rank	Primary statistical area^[1]	Population
2020 rank	Primary statistical area^[1]	2023 estimate^[3]	Change	2020 Census^[4]	Change	2010 Census^[5]
1	Urban Honolulu, HI MSA	989,408	−2.67%	1,016,508	+6.64%	953,207
2	Hilo-Kailua, HI μSA	207,615	+3.48%	200,629	+8.40%	185,079
3	Kahului-Wailuku, HI MSA	164,264	−0.35%	164,836	+6.40%	154,924
4	Kapaa, HI μSA	73,851	+0.75%	73,298	+9.25%	67,091