Best PlacesKalaoa, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kalaoa, 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.
Kalaoa ranks 18,465th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kalaoa
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.
Kalaoa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kalaoa ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 196 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
Where Kalaoa ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kalaoa
A household needs to earn about $191,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kalaoa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $103,319, 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 Kalaoa's effective rate of 0.35%, 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 Kalaoa
Kalaoa 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 Kalaoa.
Who works in Kalaoa, and how
Work in Kalaoa centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kalaoa
Kalaoa has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. The coast is about 6 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Kalaoa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kalaoa, month by month
Kalaoa sees roughly 196 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 Kalaoa
The nearest airport, Ellison Onizuka Kona International at Keahole, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kahului, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kalaoa
Schools across Kalaoa average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Holualoa Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Kealakehe Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kealakehe Intermediate SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- West Hawaii Explorations AcademyB− · 42% proficient
- Kealakehe High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kalaoa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kalaoa 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 Kalaoa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kalaoa
Is Kalaoa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kalaoa ranks 18,465th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, 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 Kalaoa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $777,303. The overall cost of living runs about 46% above the national average. Set against a $103,319 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Kalaoa safe?
Yes, Kalaoa is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
Compare Kalaoa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kalaoa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kalaoa 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.
Kalaoa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kalaoa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kalaoa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kalaoa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kalaoa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kalaoa 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.