Kalawao County Hawaii

The county is on the Kalaupapa Peninsula, on the north coast of the island of Molokaʻi. The small peninsula of Kalaupapa is isolated from the rest of Molokaʻi by sea cliffs over a quarter-mile high — the only land access is a mule trail.
Kalawao County is a separate county from the rest of Molokaʻi, which is part of Maui County.

Maui County does not claim jurisdiction over the three villages of Kalaupapa, Kalawao, and Waikolu. Some maps, however, do not show Kalawao as a separate county.
The county does not have a county government, with the exception of a sheriff who is selected from local residents by the State Department of Health, which administers the county.
The county is coextensive with the Kalaupapa National Historical Park, and encompasses the Kalaupapa Settlement where the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, the territory, and the state once exiled persons suffering from leprosy (Hansen's disease) beginning in the 1860s.The quarantine policy was lifted in 1969, after the disease became treatable on an outpatient basis and could be rendered non-contagious. State law prohibits anyone under the age of 16 from visiting or living there.

With a population of 147 at the 2000 census, Kalawao County's population is the second smallest of any county in the United States, ahead of only Loving County, Texas. Ranked by median household income, it is the poorest county in the United States.


Geography
According to the U.S.