Best PlacesKaaawa, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kaaawa, 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.
Kaaawa ranks 11,920th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kaaawa
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.
Kaaawa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kaaawa ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
Where Kaaawa ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Short commute40.2 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,434 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kaaawa
A household needs to earn about $228,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kaaawa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $112,694, 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 Kaaawa's effective rate of 0.24%, 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 Kaaawa
Kaaawa's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kaaawa.
Who works in Kaaawa, and how
Work in Kaaawa centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Kaaawa
The coast is about 0 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Kaaawa, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kaaawa, month by month
Kaaawa sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 81, with lows near 70. The comfortable stretch runs January through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 81° | 75° | 70° |
| April | 82° | 77° | 72° |
| July | 85° | 80° | 75° |
| October | 86° | 80° | 75° |
Flying in and out of Kaaawa
Daniel K Inouye International sits about 16 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 Kaaawa
Schools across Kaaawa average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kaaawa Elementary SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Hauula Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Governor Samuel Wilder King Intermediate SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Kahuku High & Intermediate SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Castle High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kaaawa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kaaawa 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 Kaaawa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kaaawa
Is Kaaawa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kaaawa ranks 11,920th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kaaawa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $942,012. The overall cost of living runs about 88% above the national average. Set against a $112,694 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Kaaawa safe?
Yes, Kaaawa is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
Compare Kaaawa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kaaawa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kaaawa 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.
Kaaawa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kaaawa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kaaawa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kaaawa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kaaawa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kaaawa 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.