Marketing Specialist salary in Honolulu, HI

Pay in Honolulu against Hawaii and the US

The middle half of marketing specialists in Honolulu earns $45,350–$87,050. The top tenth earns $115,630 or more, 3.9 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 3.6 times. The mean ($69,720) is 11% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $41,700 wide, between the figure for Hawaii ($37,350) and the US figure ($49,960).

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $24,060 a year in pay and about $31,045 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $17,640 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $78,760 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Honolulu, and the Hawaii statewide median of $59,390 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Honolulu

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $18,287 to the $62,990 median and brings it to $81,277 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for marketing specialists we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Honolulu

Of the 17 roles we track in Honolulu, this one ranks #5 by median pay, between accountants ($74,990) and office managers ($62,980). Executive Assistant is the highest at $80,600.

Measured against the US median, marketing specialists rank #16 of the 17 roles we track in Honolulu (-20.0%), between sales development representatives (-11.8%) and project coordinators (-22.7%). The typical role here is at -0.3%, so, measured against the US, marketing specialists cost less in Honolulu than the area's general pay level would suggest. Marketing specialists hold 2.7% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Honolulu, 3.0% across Hawaii and 5.7% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Hawaii

Across the 3 areas of Hawaii with data for this job, the median runs from $42,220 in Kahului-Wailuku to $62,990 in Honolulu, a gap of $20,770 a year. No other area in Hawaii has as many marketing specialists, and both others pay less.

Honolulu against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Honolulu is #92 of 514 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Hawaii, Reading and Green Bay pay just above Honolulu and Provo-Orem and Toledo just below. All four are within $60 a year of the median in Honolulu. Of the three markets with about as many marketing specialists, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.