Best PlacesKailua, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kailua, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kailua ranks 292nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kailua
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.
Kailua's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kailua ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 97% of cities
- TransitBetter than 97% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of cities
Where Kailua ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 18% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,434 a month, better than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Kailua
A household needs to earn about $332,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kailua home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $150,423, 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 Kailua's effective rate of 0.31%, 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 Kailua
Kailua 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 Kailua.
Who works in Kailua, and how
Work in Kailua centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Kailua
Kailua has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 1 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kailua and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kailua, month by month
Kailua sees roughly 89 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 Kailua
Daniel K Inouye International sits about 13 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 Kailua
Schools across Kailua average a B, better than 66% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Aikahi Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Kaelepulu Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Ka'ohao Public Charter SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kailua Intermediate SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Kalaheo High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Kailua High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Olomana SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kailua school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kailua 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 Kailua against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Kailua suits
Common questions about living in Kailua
Is Kailua a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kailua ranks 292nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on state infrastructure and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kailua expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,362,030. The overall cost of living runs about 98% above the national average. Set against a $150,423 median income, cost of living beats 18% of cities.
Is Kailua safe?
Yes, Kailua is safer than 92% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $212 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kailua?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 81 with lows near 70. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 53% of cities.
Is Kailua good for families?
Schools beat 66% of cities, crime safety beats 92%, and childcare runs $1,434 a month.
Compare Kailua with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kailua. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kailua 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.
Kailua detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kailua: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kailua: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kailua: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kailua: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kailua 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.