Best PlacesKapaa, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kapaa, 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.
Kapaa ranks 10,948th 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 Kapaa
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.
Kapaa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kapaa ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
Where Kapaa ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kapaa
A household needs to earn about $210,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kapaa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $98,439, 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 Kapaa's effective rate of 0.23%, 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 Kapaa
Kapaa 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 Kapaa.
Who works in Kapaa, and how
Work in Kapaa centers on hospitality & food and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kapaa
Kapaa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more parkland per resident than 80% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kapaa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kapaa, month by month
Kapaa sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 80, with lows near 66. The comfortable stretch runs December through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 80° | 73° | 66° |
| April | 81° | 75° | 69° |
| July | 86° | 80° | 75° |
| October | 85° | 78° | 72° |
Flying in and out of Kapaa
The nearest airport, Lihue, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Daniel K Inouye International, about 106 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kapaa
Schools across Kapaa average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- King Kaumualii Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Elsie H Wilcox Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Kapaa Elementary SchoolC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Kapaa Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Kauai High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Kapaa High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kapaa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kapaa 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 Kapaa against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Kapaa suits
Families
Schools land around the 33rd percentile and crime safety beats 70%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Kapaa
Is Kapaa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kapaa ranks 10,948th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low property taxes, and population health, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kapaa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $870,344. The overall cost of living runs about 44% above the national average. Set against a $98,439 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Kapaa safe?
Yes, Kapaa is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $285 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kapaa?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 80 with lows near 66. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 82% of towns.
Is Kapaa good for families?
Schools beat 33% of towns, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $890 a month.
Compare Kapaa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kapaa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kapaa 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.
Kapaa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kapaa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kapaa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kapaa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kapaa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kapaa 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.