Most people who research the most common jobs in Hawaii expect a list built around tourism, and they are partly right. Hotels, restaurants and shops employ tens of thousands of residents. But the state’s labor market rests on three legs, not one: visitor spending, federal defense dollars and a large public and healthcare workforce that keeps running whatever the arrival numbers do.
This analysis draws on Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) estimates, Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) industry reports and state labor department job counts. It ranks the largest occupations and industries, gives employment counts and median wages, names the employers that hire at scale, and shows how the job mix changes between Oahu and the neighbor islands.
The focus here is volume: the jobs most residents actually hold. Pay ceilings and top earners are a separate question. For a ranking of the companies that generate the most revenue in the state, see the site’s breakdown of the highest-earning companies in Hawaii.
How Hawaii’s job data is measured
Three public sources drive almost every credible figure on Hawaii employment. Each measures something slightly different, which explains why published numbers rarely match exactly.
- BLS OEWS: counts workers by occupation and reports median and mean wages, including tips for tipped roles.
- DLIR Current Employment Statistics: monthly nonfarm job counts by industry, statewide and by county.
- DBEDT quarterly reports: combine both, plus visitor spending, defense spending and economic forecasts.
OEWS figures cited below come from the May 2024 survey, released in spring 2025, and are rounded. Occupation counts exclude self-employed workers, which matters in Hawaii because many tour operators, fishers, farmers and contractors work for themselves. Military service members are also excluded from OEWS and civilian job counts, even though roughly 40,000 active-duty personnel are stationed in the state.
Hawaii had roughly 640,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in 2025, according to state labor department estimates, against a population of about 1.44 million recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau. Statewide unemployment has hovered near 3% for most of 2024 and 2025, below the national rate.
The most common jobs in Hawaii, ranked
The largest occupations in Hawaii lean heavily toward service work. Seven of the top ten are in food service, retail, cleaning or general office support. Registered nurses are the only occupation in the top ten that requires a professional license and a degree.
| Rank | Occupation | Approx. employment | Median hourly | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fast food and counter workers | 18,000 | $17.40 | $36,200 |
| 2 | Retail salespersons | 17,500 | $18.10 | $37,600 |
| 3 | Cashiers | 14,000 | $16.90 | $35,100 |
| 4 | Waiters and waitresses | 14,000 | $21.50 | $44,700 |
| 5 | Maids and housekeeping cleaners | 13,000 | $24.50 | $51,000 |
| 6 | Office clerks, general | 12,500 | $21.80 | $45,300 |
| 7 | Registered nurses | 12,000 | $61.50 | $128,000 |
| 8 | Cooks, restaurant | 11,000 | $20.00 | $41,600 |
| 9 | Janitors and cleaners | 10,000 | $18.50 | $38,500 |
| 10 | Security guards | 9,500 | $19.40 | $40,300 |
| 11 | Stockers and order fillers | 9,000 | $18.70 | $38,900 |
| 12 | Home health and personal care aides | 8,500 | $17.60 | $36,600 |
| 13 | Customer service representatives | 8,000 | $20.90 | $43,500 |
| 14 | Laborers and freight movers | 7,500 | $19.80 | $41,200 |
| 15 | Carpenters | 6,500 | $40.00 | $83,200 |
Figures are rounded estimates based on May 2024 OEWS data for Hawaii. Wages for entry-level service roles have since moved up because the state minimum wage rose to $16.00 an hour on January 1, 2026. The statewide median for all occupations sits near $26.50 an hour, or about $55,000 a year.
Food preparation and serving
Combined, food preparation and serving occupations employ more than 60,000 people in Hawaii, making the group the single largest occupational family. That includes counter workers, servers, cooks, dishwashers, bartenders, hosts and supervisors across hotel restaurants, plate-lunch counters and chains.
Server pay varies more than any other common job. A server at a Waikiki resort restaurant or a Wailea fine-dining room can clear $70,000 or more with tips, while a counter worker at a quick-service outlet earns close to minimum wage. Hawaii allows a tip credit of only $1.00 an hour, and only when combined pay exceeds the minimum by at least $7.00.
Readers weighing a serving job should look at the site’s guide to tipping in Hawaii, which shows how visitor tipping norms at luaus, restaurants and valet stands feed directly into these workers’ take-home pay. The mobile food scene adds smaller-scale work too, as the site’s look at the best food trucks on Oahu shows.
Retail salespersons and cashiers
Retail salespersons and cashiers together account for about 31,500 jobs. Many sit in two very different settings: resident-serving stores such as Foodland, Times, Safeway, Costco and Walmart, and visitor-facing shops at Ala Moana Center, the Royal Hawaiian Center and resort districts on Maui and the Big Island.
Median pay for both roles sits in the $35,000 to $38,000 range, among the lowest for any common occupation. Luxury retail in Waikiki and duty-free work tied to Japanese and Korean visitor traffic can pay more through commissions, but those positions shrink fast when international arrivals soften.
Maids and housekeeping cleaners
Housekeeping is where Hawaii stands apart from the mainland. The state’s median housekeeper wage of roughly $24.50 an hour is among the highest in the country, well above the national median of about $16.
The reason is union density. UNITE HERE Local 5 represents workers at most large Waikiki and many neighbor island resorts, and its contracts set hourly rates, health coverage and room quotas. Non-union cleaning work at vacation rentals and smaller properties often pays $18 to $20 an hour with fewer benefits.
Registered nurses
About 12,000 registered nurses work in Hawaii, with a median annual wage near $128,000, placing the state among the top five for RN pay. Hospitals on Oahu employ the majority, though neighbor island facilities recruit heavily because local graduate pipelines cannot fill every vacancy.
Nurses relocating from the mainland need a Hawaii license. Hawaii is not part of the Nurse Licensure Compact, so a multistate license from another state does not transfer automatically. Licensure by endorsement typically takes 4 to 8 weeks once paperwork is complete, and travel nurse contracts of 13 weeks are a common entry route.
Office clerks and administrative roles
General office clerks number about 12,500, and when secretaries, administrative assistants, receptionists and bookkeepers are added, the office and administrative support group exceeds 70,000 workers. Government offices, hospitals, banks and property management firms are the main employers.
Median pay for general clerks is around $45,000. State and county clerical positions follow published salary schedules and include pension and health benefits, which is why these civil service jobs attract applicants well above their headline pay.
Largest industries in Hawaii by employment
Occupation tables show what people do. Industry tables show who signs the paycheck. A registered nurse at Tripler Army Medical Center counts as federal government, while a cook at a hospital cafeteria counts as healthcare, so the two views overlap but do not match.
| Industry | Approx. jobs (2025) | Share of nonfarm jobs | Typical average annual wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government (federal, state, local) | 125,000 | 19.5% | $72,000 |
| Leisure and hospitality | 120,000 | 18.8% | $46,000 |
| Healthcare and social assistance | 78,000 | 12.2% | $68,000 |
| Professional and business services | 75,000 | 11.7% | $66,000 |
| Retail trade | 63,000 | 9.8% | $40,000 |
| Construction | 38,000 | 5.9% | $86,000 |
| Transportation, warehousing and utilities | 32,000 | 5.0% | $65,000 |
| Financial activities | 29,000 | 4.5% | $75,000 |
Figures are rounded from state labor department and DBEDT estimates. Government and leisure and hospitality trade the top spot depending on the month and the strength of tourism. Hotel and restaurant jobs alone, however, depend far more on visitor counts than any other sector.
Tourism and hospitality: the visible engine
Hawaii welcomed roughly 9.6 million visitors in 2024, who spent around $21 billion, according to DBEDT and Hawaii Tourism Authority data. That spending supports hotel, restaurant, retail, tour, rental car and airport jobs. The Hawaii Tourism Authority’s visitor site gives a sense of the activities that generate this demand.
Leisure and hospitality employment reached about 120,000 jobs in 2025, still slightly short of the 2019 peak near 125,000. The August 2023 Lahaina wildfire erased thousands of West Maui jobs, and Maui County hospitality employment had not fully recovered by late 2025.
Hotels and resorts
Accommodation employs about 38,000 people statewide. Marriott International operates the largest portfolio, with properties under the Sheraton, Westin, Ritz-Carlton and Courtyard brands across all four major islands. Hilton runs the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the state’s largest hotel at more than 3,300 rooms and roughly 2,000 employees.
Other major operators include Hyatt, Outrigger Hospitality, Highgate, Aqua-Aston and Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts, which owns the Royal Hawaiian and Moana Surfrider. Typical hotel job families include:
- Housekeeping, laundry and public area cleaning
- Front desk, concierge, bell and valet
- Food and beverage, banquets and room service
- Engineering and maintenance
- Sales, revenue management and finance
Restaurants and bars
Food services and drinking places account for about 65,000 jobs, the largest piece of the hospitality sector. Roughly a third depend directly on visitors, with the rest serving residents through local chains such as Zippy’s, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue and Liliha Bakery, plus national fast-food brands.
Seasonality and volatility
Hawaii tourism has two peaks: mid-December through March and June through August. Hiring follows. Hotels and tour operators often add staff in November and May, then trim hours in late April and September, when arrivals dip. The site’s guide to the best time to visit each Hawaiian island maps those seasons island by island.
The bigger risk is external shocks. In April 2020, Hawaii’s unemployment rate hit about 22%, the highest in the country, because the visitor economy shut almost overnight. Households relying on a single hospitality income tend to build larger emergency savings than mainland households for this reason.
Federal government and the military
Defense is Hawaii’s second-largest source of outside income after tourism. Federal defense spending in the state runs to several billion dollars a year, and DBEDT counts the military as a stabilizing force because it does not rise and fall with airline capacity or exchange rates.
About 34,000 federal civilians work in Hawaii, the majority for the Department of Defense. That figure excludes roughly 40,000 active-duty service members and their families, who add demand for housing, schools, retail and healthcare across Oahu.
Key defense installations
- Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, home to Navy and Air Force commands
- Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, with roughly 6,000 civilian workers
- Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield in central Oahu
- Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay
- Camp H.M. Smith, headquarters of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
- Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai and Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is the state’s largest single industrial employer, hiring welders, pipefitters, electricians, machinists and engineers. Its apprenticeship program pays trainees while they learn, and journey-level trades workers often earn $80,000 to $100,000 including Hawaii’s federal locality pay.
Other federal employers include the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Transportation Security Administration at airports managed by the Hawaii Department of Transportation, NOAA, the National Park Service and the U.S. Postal Service. Military spouses often fill civilian roles on base through spouse hiring preference programs.
State and local government
Hawaii runs a centralized government structure. There are no city school districts, no separate city police departments outside the four counties, and one statewide public school system. That concentrates public employment in a few very large employers.
The Hawaii State Department of Education is the largest single civilian employer in the state, with more than 20,000 employees, including about 13,000 teachers across 258 public schools. Starting teacher pay with a bachelor’s degree is about $56,000 to $58,000, and the state has offered shortage differentials of up to $10,000 for special education and hard-to-staff rural schools.
The University of Hawaii system employs roughly 10,000 faculty and staff across 10 campuses. State agencies such as the Hawaii Department of Health, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Transportation add thousands more, along with the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, which runs public hospitals on the neighbor islands.
At the county level, the City and County of Honolulu employs about 10,000 people across police, fire, parks, transit, environmental services and the Skyline rail system. The County of Hawaii on the Big Island, Maui County and Kauai County run smaller workforces with the same core functions.
Healthcare: the steadiest growth sector
Healthcare and social assistance employs about 78,000 people and has grown in almost every year of the past two decades. An aging population drives demand: Hawaii has one of the longest life expectancies in the country, at roughly 80 years, and a fast-growing share of residents over 65.
Two private nonprofit systems dominate. The Queen’s Health Systems, anchored by the 575-bed Queen’s Medical Center in downtown Honolulu, employs more than 8,000 people across hospitals on Oahu and Molokai. Hawaii Pacific Health, which operates Kapiolani, Pali Momi, Straub Benioff and Wilcox on Kauai, employs about 7,500.
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, Adventist Health Castle in Windward Oahu, Maui Health and the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation round out the hospital sector. Beyond hospitals, the largest healthcare job categories are:
- Home health and personal care aides, about 8,500 workers
- Nursing assistants, roughly 4,000 workers
- Medical assistants, about 3,500 workers
- Licensed practical nurses in long-term care facilities
- Pharmacy technicians and medical records staff
Healthcare jobs are less seasonal than tourism and pay more at the licensed level. The trade-off is that aide roles, which are among the fastest-growing, pay close to minimum wage, with median annual earnings near $36,600. Physician shortages are especially acute on the Big Island and Maui, where clinics routinely report multi-month waits.
Construction: high wages, cyclical demand
Construction employs about 38,000 people in Hawaii and pays some of the best wages available without a four-year degree. Average annual earnings in the sector run near $86,000, helped by strong unions and federal prevailing wage rules on military and public projects.
Demand comes from four main sources: military construction at Pearl Harbor and other bases, the Honolulu Skyline rail extension toward Kakaako, Lahaina rebuilding on Maui, and residential and condo projects in Kakaako and Kapolei. Large contractors include Hawaiian Dredging Construction, Nan Inc., Albert C. Kobayashi and Swinerton.
| Construction trade | Approx. Hawaii employment | Median annual wage | Typical entry route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carpenters | 6,500 | $83,200 | 4-year union apprenticeship |
| Construction laborers | 5,500 | $65,000 | Direct hire or union referral |
| Electricians | 3,000 | $90,000 | 5-year apprenticeship and state license |
| Plumbers and pipefitters | 2,000 | $88,000 | 5-year apprenticeship and state license |
| Operating engineers | 1,800 | $92,000 | 3-year apprenticeship |
Construction jobs carry their own risk. Project pipelines swing with interest rates, rail funding and military budgets. Workers from the mainland also find that Hawaii licensing for electricians and plumbers does not reciprocate automatically, so a licensed journey-level worker may need to sit for the state exam before working independently.
Retail and wholesale trade
Retail trade supports about 63,000 jobs, and wholesale adds roughly 17,000 more. Almost everything sold in Hawaii arrives by ship, which ties retail employment to the ports and to carriers such as Matson and Pasha Hawaii, both of which employ dockworkers, drivers and logistics staff in Honolulu.
Grocery stores are among the most stable retail employers because residents shop year-round regardless of tourism. Foodland, owned by the Sullivan family, operates more than 30 stores statewide. Costco, Walmart, Target, Safeway, Times Supermarkets and Don Quijote are also significant hirers.
Shipping costs show up in what these stores charge. The site’s comparison of Hawaii grocery prices by island shows how much more a basket costs on Kauai or Maui than in Honolulu, a gap that matters for a retail worker earning $37,000 a year.
Biggest employers in Hawaii
The largest employers in Hawaii are mostly public or nonprofit institutions. Only a handful of private, for-profit companies employ more than 5,000 people in the state.
| Employer | Sector | Approx. Hawaii employees | Main island |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Defense (civilian) | Federal government | 20,000+ | Oahu |
| Hawaii State Department of Education | State government | 20,000+ | All islands |
| University of Hawaii System | State government | 10,000 | Oahu, with campuses statewide |
| City and County of Honolulu | Local government | 10,000 | Oahu |
| The Queen’s Health Systems | Healthcare | 8,000+ | Oahu, Molokai |
| Hawaii Pacific Health | Healthcare | 7,500 | Oahu, Kauai |
| Hawaiian Airlines (Alaska Air Group) | Transportation | 7,000 | Oahu |
| Marriott-branded hotels | Hospitality | 6,000+ | All islands |
| Kaiser Permanente Hawaii | Healthcare | 4,500 | Oahu, Maui |
| Hilton-branded hotels | Hospitality | 4,000+ | Oahu, Big Island |
Counts are rounded estimates from employer statements, Pacific Business News lists and news coverage. Marriott and Hilton figures include managed and franchised properties, where the hotel owner, not the brand, may be the legal employer. Hawaiian Airlines has operated under Alaska Air Group since September 2024, and integration decisions could shift headcount.
Independent outlets such as Civil Beat and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser regularly report on hiring freezes, union contracts and layoffs at these employers, and are useful for tracking current conditions before a move.
Oahu vs the neighbor islands: how the job mix differs
Oahu holds about 70% of Hawaii’s jobs, and its economy is far more diversified than any other island. Honolulu concentrates government, the military, hospitals, finance, law and corporate headquarters. The neighbor islands depend much more on visitor spending, which changes both the types of jobs available and their stability.
| County | Approx. nonfarm jobs | Leisure and hospitality share | Government share | Unemployment (2025 avg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honolulu (Oahu) | 465,000 | 15% | 22% | 2.8% |
| Maui County | 72,000 | 32% | 13% | 4.3% |
| Hawaii County (Big Island) | 73,000 | 23% | 18% | 3.6% |
| Kauai County | 32,000 | 33% | 14% | 3.2% |
Figures are rounded approximations from state labor department county data. Maui’s higher unemployment reflects the lingering effects of the 2023 Lahaina fire on West Maui resorts and restaurants.
Oahu
Oahu is the only island where a relocating professional can realistically job-hunt across several sectors at once. Accountants, IT staff, engineers, attorneys and healthcare administrators find most openings here. Commute patterns matter: most jobs sit between Pearl Harbor and Waikiki, while cheaper housing lies in Ewa, Kapolei and Mililani.
The site’s guide to where to live on Oahu compares neighborhoods by rent and commute. Morning drives on the H-1 from Kapolei to downtown Honolulu can run 60 to 90 minutes, a cost that should be weighed against lower rents.
Maui and Kauai
On Maui and Kauai, roughly one in three jobs is in leisure and hospitality, double the Oahu share. Resort hubs such as Kaanapali, Wailea, Poipu and Princeville are the main employers, along with the hospitals, county governments and grocery chains that serve residents.
Professional roles are scarce, and many residents hold two jobs. The site’s guide to living in Kauai covers how a small labor market and high housing costs shape daily life on the Garden Isle.
Big Island
Hawaii County has a more mixed economy. The Kona and Kohala coasts are resort-heavy, while Hilo leans toward government, the University of Hawaii at Hilo, healthcare and agriculture. Mauna Kea’s observatories employ several hundred scientists, engineers and technicians, an unusual niche for a rural county.
Housing is cheaper than on Oahu or Maui, but wages are lower too. The broader trade-offs, including how job access differs, are covered in the site’s comparison of moving to Oahu vs the neighbor islands.
What common-job wages buy in Hawaii
Hawaii wages look competitive until they are set against living costs. Honolulu consistently ranks among the most expensive U.S. metro areas, and the BLS Consumer Price Index for Urban Hawaii shows shelter as the largest driver of price increases.
| Occupation | Median annual wage | Monthly gross pay | Share needed for $2,100 Honolulu 1-bedroom rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cashier | $35,100 | $2,925 | 72% |
| Retail salesperson | $37,600 | $3,133 | 67% |
| Office clerk | $45,300 | $3,775 | 56% |
| Hotel housekeeper | $51,000 | $4,250 | 49% |
| Carpenter | $83,200 | $6,933 | 30% |
| Registered nurse | $128,000 | $10,667 | 20% |
The common rule of thumb caps rent at 30% of gross income. By that measure, only the skilled trades and licensed healthcare roles in the top 15 can afford a typical one-bedroom alone. Most service workers share housing, live with family or hold a second job.
Minimum wage timeline
Hawaii’s minimum wage law, passed in 2022, set a schedule of step increases. The $16.00 rate took effect January 1, 2026, and the next step lifts it to $18.00 on January 1, 2028, one of the highest statewide minimums in the country.
- October 1, 2022: $12.00 an hour
- January 1, 2024: $14.00 an hour
- January 1, 2026: $16.00 an hour
- January 1, 2028: $18.00 an hour
Taxes and take-home pay
Hawaii’s income tax runs from 1.4% to 11%, and recent legislation has been widening the lower brackets and raising the standard deduction in stages through 2031. The Hawaii Department of Taxation publishes current rates. Electricity also weighs on budgets, with Hawaii residential rates often above 40 cents per kWh.
Housing is the decisive variable. The site’s report on Hawaii home prices by island shows Oahu single-family medians above $1.1 million, a level that places ownership out of reach for most workers in the occupations listed above without dual incomes or family help.
How relocating workers break into these jobs
Each common job category has its own entry path. Service roles hire quickly, often within 1 to 2 weeks, while government and union jobs can take 2 to 6 months from application to start date.
- Hospitality: apply directly through hotel brand career portals; union properties post openings with seniority rules.
- Healthcare: secure a Hawaii license before arrival; many hospitals offer relocation help for RNs.
- State jobs: some postings require Hawaii residency at the time of application.
- Federal jobs: apply through USAJOBS; Hawaii adds a locality pay adjustment to base GS pay.
- Construction: contact union halls for apprenticeship intake windows, which open on set dates each year.
Employers on all islands prefer candidates already living in Hawaii, partly because of high turnover among recent arrivals. The site’s guide to finding a job in Hawaii after moving covers the timing question in depth, including whether to secure an offer before relocating. News sites such as Hawaii News Now also report on major hiring events and job fairs.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common job in Hawaii?
Fast food and counter workers are the single largest occupation, with about 18,000 workers, followed closely by retail salespersons at about 17,500. Grouped by occupational family, food preparation and serving is the largest, employing more than 60,000 people across hotels, restaurants and quick-service outlets statewide.
What is the biggest industry in Hawaii?
Tourism is the largest private driver of the economy, generating around $21 billion in visitor spending in 2024. By payroll count, government, including federal, state and county agencies, employs about 125,000 people and rivals leisure and hospitality, which employs about 120,000, for the top spot.
Who is the largest employer in Hawaii?
The U.S. Department of Defense and the Hawaii State Department of Education are the two largest employers, each with more than 20,000 civilian workers. Counting active-duty service members, the military is by far the largest. Queen’s Health Systems is the largest private employer at more than 8,000 staff.
How much do hotel housekeepers make in Hawaii?
The median Hawaii housekeeper wage is about $24.50 an hour, or roughly $51,000 a year, among the highest in the nation. Union contracts at large Waikiki and resort-area hotels push rates higher and include health benefits, while non-union vacation rental cleaning typically pays $18 to $20 an hour.
Are there more jobs on Oahu than on the neighbor islands?
Yes. Oahu holds roughly 465,000 of the state’s 640,000 nonfarm jobs, about 70%. It also offers far more variety, including government, military, finance and corporate roles. Maui and Kauai depend on hospitality for about one in three jobs, which makes employment there more seasonal and sensitive to tourism shocks.
Can a registered nurse transfer a mainland license to Hawaii?
Not automatically. Hawaii does not participate in the Nurse Licensure Compact, so nurses must apply for licensure by endorsement through the state board. Processing usually takes 4 to 8 weeks with complete documents. Many nurses start with 13-week travel contracts before taking a permanent hospital position.
What is the minimum wage in Hawaii in 2026?
Hawaii’s minimum wage is $16.00 an hour as of January 1, 2026, up from $14.00 in 2024. It is scheduled to rise to $18.00 on January 1, 2028. Employers may take a tip credit of only $1.00 an hour, and only when tipped workers earn well above the minimum.
Is it hard to find a job in Hawaii after moving?
Entry-level service jobs are relatively easy to land, often within two weeks, because unemployment sits near 3%. Professional roles are harder, especially outside Oahu, and employers often favor applicants already living in the islands. Government and union positions can take several months to fill.
