How are Maui County’s STAR workers distributed across income bands relative to the living-wage threshold?
Workforce Understory Episode: Episode Four — Mobility Through Lifelong Learning
Geography: Maui County
Topic: STARs, living-wage attainment, upskilling, job quality, and regional economic mobility
The takeaway
Among Maui County’s approximately 81,131 STAR workers, 38,520 earn more than $20,000 below the living-wage threshold.
Another 27,929 already earn above a living wage—approximately 34% of the county’s STAR workforce.
Between those groups are 14,681 workers who may be closer to economic security. This includes 6,509 workers earning within $10,000 of the threshold and 8,172 earning between $10,000 and $20,000 below it.
Together, these two groups represent approximately 18% of Maui County’s STAR workforce.
Nearly 14,700 Maui County STAR workers are within $20,000 of a living wage—a substantial population that could benefit from focused advancement, wage growth, and economic diversification.
What this visualization shows
This visualization distributes Maui County’s STAR workforce across four income bands based on the difference between workers’ earnings and the county’s living-wage threshold:
Far Below: More than $20,000 below a living wage — 38,520 workers
Below: Between $10,000 and $20,000 below — 8,172 workers
Near: Within $10,000 of the threshold — 6,509 workers
Above: Already earning a living wage — 27,929 workers
The Far Below category is the largest. Approximately 47% of Maui County STAR workers earn more than $20,000 below the living-wage threshold.
Roughly 34% already earn above it. That share is nearly equal to Honolulu’s and higher than the shares observed on Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island.
Between those outcomes, approximately 8% of STAR workers are within $10,000 of the threshold, while another 10% are between $10,000 and $20,000 below it.
The visualization identifies the scale of each group but does not explain why workers fall within a particular income band. Earnings may reflect hourly wages, the number of hours available, seasonal employment, multiple-job holding, occupational choice, career stage, or disruptions such as the Maui wildfires.
It also does not show whether workers have a viable path to a higher-paying role. Being relatively close to the living-wage threshold does not guarantee that a modest training intervention or credential will close the gap.
Why this matters
Maui County has a sizable population of STAR workers who appear relatively close to earning a living wage.
The approximately 14,700 workers within $20,000 of the threshold represent a larger addressable population than those identified on Hawaiʻi Island or Kauaʻi. Helping even a portion of this group advance could meaningfully improve economic security across Maui County.
But the composition of Maui’s economy complicates the strategy.
Tourism and related service industries provide accessible employment for many STAR workers, yet some of those occupations have structural wage ceilings. Workers may already possess the skills needed to perform their jobs effectively, but their employers or industries may not offer sufficiently high wages, stable hours, or clear advancement opportunities.
In those cases, additional training alone may not solve the problem.
Some workers may be able to cross the threshold through wage increases, more consistent scheduling, supervisory advancement, or movement into higher-paying occupations within their current industry. Others may need pathways into Healthcare, Construction, Utilities, Transportation, Information and Technology, professional services, or other sectors with stronger earnings potential.
The fact that approximately 34% of Maui County STAR workers already earn above a living wage is also significant. The county appears to produce living-wage outcomes for STAR workers at a rate similar to Honolulu despite having a smaller and less diverse economy.
That result deserves investigation rather than immediate causal interpretation. It may reflect Maui’s occupational mix, unionized employment, Construction and Utilities jobs, experienced incumbent workers, county-specific wage conditions, or differences in the living-wage threshold. It may also conceal variation among Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi.
Understanding which workers are already succeeding—and through which employers, occupations, and pathways—could provide practical lessons for the rest of the county and for other Neighbor Islands.
At the same time, the 38,520 workers who remain Far Below the threshold cannot be overlooked. Many may need deeper changes than a short-term upskilling program can provide, including stronger job quality, longer-term occupational transitions, income supports, or growth in industries capable of offering substantially higher wages.
Maui’s challenge is therefore not simply to help workers develop additional skills. It is to ensure that its economy contains enough jobs in which those skills are valued and compensated.
This evidence invites Maui County to ask:
Can the county build on the pathways already helping some STAR workers earn a living wage while creating enough higher-paying destinations for the nearly 14,700 workers who are within reach?
Evidence:
Questions this visualization helps answer
How many Maui County STAR workers already earn above a living wage?
How many earn more than $20,000 below the threshold?
How many are within $10,000 of reaching a living wage?
How many earn between $10,000 and $20,000 below it?
What share of the county’s STAR workforce is within $20,000 of the threshold?
Which income band contains the largest number of workers?
How large is the population that may be responsive to focused advancement or wage interventions?
How large is the population likely to require deeper occupational transitions or improvements in job quality?
How does Maui County’s above-living-wage share compare with those of Honolulu and the other Neighbor Island counties?
How does Maui County’s addressable population compare with those of Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island?
Curiosity:
Questions this visualization raises
Why does approximately 34% of Maui County’s STAR workforce already earn above a living wage?
What explains the similarity between Maui County’s share and Honolulu’s?
Which industries and occupations account for most of Maui’s above-living-wage STAR workers?
Are unionized occupations contributing to the county’s comparatively strong result?
How much of the outcome reflects Construction, Utilities, government, Healthcare, or other industries?
Does Maui’s county-specific living-wage threshold affect the comparison with other islands?
Are Maui County STAR workers more experienced or concentrated in higher-paying occupations?
Can the pathways producing strong outcomes on Maui be replicated on Hawaiʻi Island or Kauaʻi?
How do income-band distributions differ among Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi?
How have the Maui wildfires and subsequent recovery affected worker earnings?
In which industries are the 6,509 Near workers concentrated?
Which occupations account for the 8,172 workers in the Below category?
How many workers within reach are employed in Hospitality and tourism-related services?
Are low earnings primarily the result of low hourly wages, insufficient hours, seasonal work, or unstable scheduling?
How many workers hold more than one job?
Could more stable schedules or full-time hours move workers across the threshold without additional training?
What wage increase would move the typical Near worker above the threshold?
Could employers close that gap through raises, promotions, or redesigned jobs?
Which incumbent-worker training programs reliably produce earnings gains of at least $10,000?
Which credentials or apprenticeships create access to higher-paying Maui occupations?
How many workers would need to move out of Hospitality to reach a living wage?
Can Hospitality employers create stronger internal career ladders?
Could improved job quality make existing service-sector roles more economically sustainable?
Which higher-paying industries have enough openings to absorb workers seeking to transition?
Can Healthcare, Construction, Utilities, Transportation, or professional services grow at the required scale?
Does Maui County need to diversify its economy before large-scale upskilling can succeed?
What economic-development investments would create additional destination jobs?
Could remote employment expand access to higher-paying work for Maui County residents?
What infrastructure would remote pathways require on Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi?
How do housing and transportation costs affect the practical value of wage gains?
Could a worker cross the statistical threshold while continuing to experience severe housing insecurity?
How do outcomes vary by race, gender, age, disability, educational experience, and island?
How should Maui balance helping workers closest to the threshold with addressing the needs of the 38,520 workers who are Far Below?
Which workers can advance through relatively short interventions?
Which workers need longer-term education, job redesign, or sector transition?
What should Maui learn from workers who already earn above the threshold?
What data would allow the county to track movement among these four income bands over time?
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