How many people are employed in Hawaii?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Hawaii has 437,405 employees across 30,345 business establishments in 581 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Hawaii?

The largest industries in Hawaii by employment among the 250 detailed industries with published employment are Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels (34,423), Full-Service Restaurants (30,276), and Limited-Service Restaurants (20,822).

What is the average payroll in Hawaii?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Hawaii. The highest-paying tracked industry is Marine Cargo Handling at $150,880/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Hawaii?

Hawaii has 30,345 business establishments across 581 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · HI · Census CBP 2023

Hawaii Industry Benchmarks

Name: Hawaii Industry Employment and Payroll Benchmarks
Creator: PlainBizBench
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 581 industries in Hawaii. Drill into any industry for a Hawaii-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

437K
Workers: 30K
Establishments: 581
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Hawaii

Hawaii employs 437,405 workers across 581 tracked industries, led by Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels (34,423 workers) among the 250 detailed industries with published employment.

Accommodation and Food Services anchors Hawaii; top-three cumulative share is 54%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

Hawaii sector employment mix

Share of private-sector employment by NAICS-2 sector (Census CBP 2023). Tile area = workers.

Hawaii private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Accommodation and Food Services is the clear anchor in Hawaii (22% of 437,405 private-sector workers (about the 16th percentile of states by employment)), but sibling sectors still take meaningful shares. Read the treemap as an anchor-plus-breadth economy rather than a one-sector state.

Not ranked: 4 of 20 sectors have no published employment figure. Census County Business Patterns applies 2% or more noise to those cells, and PlainBizBench publishes only low-noise figures rather than estimating. Total employment, shares and the mix on this page sum only the sectors with a published figure. How we handle withheld data.

#1 · NAICS 72

Accommodation and Food Services

97,559 · 22%

#2 · NAICS 62

Health Care and Social Assistance

71,314 · 16%

#3 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

65,686 · 15%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.122 (moderate) · top-three 54% of Hawaii private payroll.

Profit margins are national (IRS SOI); open any industry row below, then the matching national industry page for profitability.

Census CBP firm roll

County Business Patterns HI ANCHORED · CBP

#43/51 · 437,405 workers · 30,345 firms

EMP 437,405
EST 30,345
RANK #43/51
PCT 16th pct
LEAD Accommodation and Fo…
SHARE 22% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 14.4 /firm
BOOK 581 NAICS
PHOTO Delaware

Nearest employment-scale peer: Delaware (435,085 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Hawaii ranks #43 of 51 states and territories by total private-sector employment (level-2 sector totals, the same non-double-counted aggregate shown above). Margins stay on national industry pages (IRS SOI). Read with this state → · Lead 6-digit industry →

Census CBP level-2 private employment among this state and nearest nationwide peers

Top Industries by Employment

Industry	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	34,423	262	$2.2B	$63,130/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	30,276	1,238	$1.0B	$34,105/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	20,822	1,414	$536.1M	$25,749/yr
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	18,407	23	$1.7B	$94,222/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	9,256	123	$546.8M	$59,074/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	7,757	887	$992.2M	$127,906/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	6,780	194	$705.3M	$104,027/yr
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars NAICS 722515	6,203	546	$130.1M	$20,974/yr
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	5,445	365	$143.1M	$26,276/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	5,312	201	$468.9M	$88,278/yr
Family Clothing Stores NAICS 448140	5,282	253	$119.8M	$22,676/yr
Commercial and Institutional Building Construction NAICS 236220	4,889	197	$529.7M	$108,347/yr
Other Similar Organizations (except Business, Professional, Labor, and Political Organizations) NAICS 813990	4,803	848	$209.4M	$43,605/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	4,720	56	$218.5M	$46,292/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	4,207	569	$127.4M	$30,278/yr
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors NAICS 238210	4,182	363	$353.4M	$84,517/yr
Engineering Services NAICS 541330	4,163	307	$430.7M	$103,447/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	3,944	403	$335.0M	$84,947/yr
Offices of Dentists NAICS 621210	3,818	577	$224.5M	$58,799/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	3,816	78	$302.7M	$79,323/yr
Not ranked: employment not published †
Residential Remodelers NAICS 236118	Not published †	498	$83.4M	N/A
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores NAICS 453220	Not published †	316	N/A	N/A
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores NAICS 445110	Not published †	272	N/A	N/A
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	Not published †	267	N/A	N/A
Lessors of Nonresidential Buildings (except Miniwarehouses) NAICS 531120	Not published †	219	$104.3M	N/A

Not ranked: 298 of 548 detailed industries have no published employment figure. Census County Business Patterns applies 2% or more noise to those cells, and PlainBizBench publishes only low-noise figures rather than estimating. Residential Remodelers (498), Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores (316), Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores (272) and 1 more report more establishments than Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels, so Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels leads only among the 250 detailed industries with published employment. How we handle withheld data.

Scale peers for Hawaii's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (437,405 in Hawaii), excluding HI.

Delaware 435,085 Montana 401,056 Rhode Island 394,740 District of Columbia 520,480 New Hampshire 533,259 West Virginia 537,890 Maine 545,965 North Dakota 327,925

Disclaimer: Hawaii (HI) figures on this page are Census CBP employment and payroll counts for informational registry use only, not financial, tax, or business advice. Consult a qualified accountant for decisions about Hawaii businesses.

Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · HI

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for Hawaii (HI). See our methodology.

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau → · Verify with IRS SOI →