Best PlacesHawaii Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Hawaii, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hawaii ranks 9th of 50 U.S. states on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Its strengths are clean air and low property taxes. The cost shows up in the cost of living against local pay, civic engagement, and state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Hawaii
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.
The best areas in Hawaii
The counties of Hawaii, grouped by direction and ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the state.
Honolulu County
Streets are more walkable, transit reaches more jobs, and biking is better.
Kauai County
Big-city amenities are closer and disaster risk is lower.
Hawaii County
It is quieter, though more homes sit empty.
Hawaii shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Hawaii's strengths and weaknesses
Hawaii ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Clean air is the standout, in the top 1% of states. Low property taxes and transit follow.
The one real hole is the cost of living against local pay, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and state finances also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Hawaii ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of states
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of states
- TransitBetter than 97% of states
- Local economyBetter than 91% of states
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of states
Where Hawaii ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of states
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of states
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 9% of states
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of states
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of states
What it costs to buy a home in Hawaii
A household needs to earn about $209,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hawaii home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $109,444, 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 Hawaii'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 Hawaii
Hawaii 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 Hawaii.
Who works in Hawaii, and how
Work in Hawaii centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Hawaii
Hawaii has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most states and less parkland per resident than most states. Hawaii has 750 miles of ocean coastline. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hawaii and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hawaii, month by month
Hawaii sees roughly 154 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° |
The best schools in and around Hawaii
Schools across Hawaii average a C+, better than 45% of states.
Top elementary schools
- Momilani Elementary SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Lt Col Horrace Meek Hickam Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Hokulani Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kaimuki Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Moanalua Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Major Sheldon Wheeler Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Maui High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Henry J Kaiser High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Mililani High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hawaii school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hawaii 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 Hawaii against the other 49 states.
Who Hawaii suits
Families
Schools land around the 45th percentile and crime safety beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Hawaii
Is Hawaii a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hawaii ranks 9th of 50 states. It scores highest on clean air, low property taxes, and transit, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hawaii expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $861,278. The overall cost of living runs about 64% above the national average. Set against a $109,444 median income, cost of living beats 1% of states.
Is Hawaii safe?
Yes, Hawaii is safer than 87% of states. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $288 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hawaii?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 82 with lows near 67. That works out to about 154 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of states.
What are the best areas in Hawaii?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Honolulu County, Kauai County, and Hawaii County. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hawaii good for families?
Schools beat 45% of states, crime safety beats 87%, and childcare runs $1,295 a month.
Is Hawaii good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 1% of states, though advertised internet speeds beat only 45% of states. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hawaii with other states
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hawaii. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hawaii 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.
Hawaii detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hawaii: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hawaii: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hawaii: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hawaii: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hawaii 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.
- 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.