Best PlacesAiea, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Aiea, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Aiea ranks 503rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Aiea
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Aiea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Aiea ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 160 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of cities
Where Aiea ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Aiea
A household needs to earn about $228,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Aiea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $121,539, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Aiea's effective rate of 0.29%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Aiea
Aiea runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Aiea.
Who works in Aiea, and how
Work in Aiea centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Aiea
Aiea has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. The coast is about 7 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Aiea and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Aiea, month by month
Aiea sees roughly 160 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 82, with lows near 67. The comfortable stretch runs December through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 82° | 75° | 67° |
| April | 84° | 77° | 70° |
| July | 89° | 81° | 75° |
| October | 88° | 80° | 73° |
Flying in and out of Aiea
Daniel K Inouye International sits about 5 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.5 million passengers in 2025, with 65 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Aiea
Schools across Aiea average a B−, better than 47% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Pearl Ridge Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Pearl Harbor Kai Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Red Hill Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Moanalua Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Aliamanu Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Aiea Intermediate SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Admiral Arthur W Radford High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Moanalua High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Pearl City High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Aiea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Aiea measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Aiea against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Aiea suits
Families
Schools land around the 47th percentile and crime safety beats 83%.
Retirees
The weather beats 85% of cities and health care access beats 65%.
Common questions about living in Aiea
Is Aiea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Aiea ranks 503rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, low property taxes, and transit, and lowest on noise and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Aiea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $937,415. The overall cost of living runs about 61% above the national average. Set against a $121,539 median income, cost of living beats 17% of cities.
Is Aiea safe?
Yes, Aiea is safer than 83% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Aiea?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 82 with lows near 67. That works out to about 160 pleasant days a year, more than 85% of cities.
Is Aiea good for families?
Schools beat 47% of cities, crime safety beats 83%, and childcare runs $1,434 a month.
Compare Aiea with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Aiea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Aiea represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Aiea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Aiea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Aiea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Aiea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Aiea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Aiea detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.