Best PlacesHawi, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hawi, 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.
Hawi ranks 20,724th 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 Hawi
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.
Hawi's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hawi ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 180 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
Where Hawi ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute36.8 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hawi
A household needs to earn about $214,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hawi home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,600, 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 Hawi's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 Hawi
Hawi runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hawi.
Who works in Hawi, and how
Work in Hawi centers on hospitality & food and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hawi
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hawi, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hawi, month by month
Hawi sees roughly 180 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 83, with lows near 69. The comfortable stretch runs February.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 83° | 76° | 69° |
| April | 84° | 78° | 71° |
| July | 87° | 81° | 75° |
| October | 87° | 81° | 74° |
Flying in and out of Hawi
The nearest airport, Waimea-Kohala, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kahului, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hawi
Schools across Hawi average a C−, better than 21% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kohala Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kohala Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Kohala High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hawi school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hawi 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 Hawi against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hawi
Is Hawi a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hawi ranks 20,724th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, the weather, and transit, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hawi expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $866,783. The overall cost of living runs about 54% above the national average. Set against a $106,600 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Hawi safe?
Hawi is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
Compare Hawi with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hawi. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hawi 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.
Hawi detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hawi: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hawi: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hawi: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hawi: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hawi 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.