Best PlacesKaupo, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kaupo, 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.
Kaupo ranks 39,524th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kaupo
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.
Kaupo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kaupo ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 270 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
Where Kaupo ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kaupo
A household needs to earn about $418,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kaupo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $53,365, 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 Kaupo's effective rate of 0.29%, 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 Kaupo
Kaupo runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kaupo.
Who works in Kaupo, and how
Work in Kaupo centers on wholesale trade and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kaupo
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Kaupo, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kaupo, month by month
Kaupo sees roughly 270 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 83, with lows near 63. The comfortable stretch runs December through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 83° | 73° | 63° |
| April | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 90° | 79° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Kaupo
Kahului sits about 23 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.4 million passengers in 2025, with 32 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Kaupo
Schools across Kaupo average a D+, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kula Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Makawao Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Samuel Enoka Kalama Intermediate SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- King Kekaulike High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kaupo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kaupo 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 Kaupo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kaupo
Is Kaupo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kaupo ranks 39,524th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kaupo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,718,800. The overall cost of living runs about 63% above the national average. Set against a $53,365 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Kaupo safe?
Kaupo is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $502 per resident a year.
Compare Kaupo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kaupo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kaupo 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.
Kaupo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kaupo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kaupo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kaupo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kaupo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kaupo 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.