Best PlacesHanalei, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hanalei, 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.
Hanalei ranks 14,093rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hanalei
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.
Hanalei's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hanalei ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$130,813 median, better than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
Where Hanalei ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hanalei
A household needs to earn about $357,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hanalei home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,813, 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 Hanalei's effective rate of 0.27%, 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 Hanalei
Hanalei 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 Hanalei.
Who works in Hanalei, and how
Work in Hanalei centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 52%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 18%
Life in Hanalei
Hanalei has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 1 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Hanalei and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hanalei, month by month
Hanalei sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 81, with lows near 65. The comfortable stretch runs December through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 81° | 73° | 65° |
| April | 83° | 75° | 67° |
| July | 88° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 87° | 79° | 71° |
Flying in and out of Hanalei
The nearest airport, Lihue, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Daniel K Inouye International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hanalei
Schools across Hanalei average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hanalei Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Kekaha Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kapaa Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Kapaa High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hanalei school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hanalei 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 Hanalei against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hanalei
Is Hanalei a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hanalei ranks 14,093rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low property taxes, and high incomes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hanalei expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,473,505. The overall cost of living runs about 137% above the national average. Set against a $130,813 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Hanalei safe?
Yes, Hanalei is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $311 per resident a year.
Compare Hanalei with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hanalei. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hanalei 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.
Hanalei detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hanalei: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hanalei: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hanalei: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hanalei: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hanalei 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.