Location: located on the eastside (windward side) of the Big Island of Hawaii, sharing borders with the South Hilo District in the north and Kau District in the west.
Size: 499.5 square miles or 319,680 acres.
Terrain: is characterized by broad and gentle slopes with no defined waterways. Its landscape is formed of porous volcanic rock and soils from Mauna Loa and Kilauea eruptions. There is an extensive network of subterranean lava tubes throughout much of the District, which are sometimes accessible through collapsed openings.
Puna Parks
(including Hawaii Volcanoe National Park) are definitely worth a visit.
Population: 31,335 (2000). That means that it grew by nearly 20,000 people from 1980 to 2000. This equates to growth of 1,000 people a year.
Ethnic composition: basically very similar to the rest of the County.
Household numbers: In 2000 there were over 13,000 households with an average household size of 2.79. Puna Hawaii could be considered somewhere between rural and semi-suburban.
Entertainment: Puna has several multi-national
restaurants
and is the home of Hawaii's oldest theatre, the Akebono theatre. Hilo offers in addition a big variety of entertainment and restaurants.
Unemployment rate: 12.2% (2000) about 4% higher than in the rest of the County.
Carpooling: About 5% more people in Puna participate in carpooling than in the rest of the County. Long distance traveling for work, shopping etc., makes people auto-dependant.
Travel time to work: in Puna exceeds the County’s average by about 7 minutes. The majority of people in Puna commute at least once a day. Puna is sometimes called the "bedroom of Hilo" because so many Puna residents commute to work.
Roadways: The main roads through the district of Puna Hawaii are: Highway 11 (Hawaii Belt road) which connects Hilo all the way up to Volcano, Highway 130 which connects Keaau all the way to Kalapana, Highway 132 which connects Pahoa and Kapoho and Highway 137 (Red Road) which connects Kapoho and Kalapana.
Economy: biggest economy is agriculture (flowers, papaya, banana etc.), followed by tourism.
Climate: very diverse. See our
weather page
for more info.
Vegetation: Dominant vegetation varies depending on the area from rain forest to desert shrub and coastal strand.
Rainfall: Puna’s abundant rainfall and the absence of sediment load create high-quality groundwater.
Utilities: Puna’s major water source comes from
rain water catchment
rain water catchment. County water is available in some areas, usually located close to the highways. Most of the electricity is supplied by a program from the Hawaiian Electric and Light Company (HELCO) called 'SSPP'. For more information,
click here. 20 percent of the Big Island's electricity is produced by the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV): Read more about Geothermal Power Puna Hawaii
Serve & Preserve Puna Hawaii: The people of Puna enjoy and protect it’s natural landscape, open space, rough infrastructure, distance from business activity, and quiet environment.
About 50% of the residents of Puna would like to have their district remain 'wild', 50% would like to see new development in their district.
