Best PlacesKealakekua, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kealakekua, 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.
Kealakekua ranks 12,761st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kealakekua
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.
Kealakekua's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kealakekua ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 250 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$118,838 median, better than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
Where Kealakekua ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kealakekua
A household needs to earn about $169,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kealakekua home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $118,838, 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 Kealakekua's effective rate of 0.28%, 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 Kealakekua
Kealakekua 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 Kealakekua.
Who works in Kealakekua, and how
Work in Kealakekua centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Kealakekua
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Kealakekua, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kealakekua, month by month
Kealakekua sees roughly 250 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 Kealakekua
The nearest airport, Ellison Onizuka Kona International at Keahole, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kahului, about 101 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kealakekua
Schools across Kealakekua average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kona Pacific - PcsB− · 40% proficient
- Konawaena Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Holualoa Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Konawaena Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Konawaena High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kealakekua school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kealakekua 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 Kealakekua against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kealakekua
Is Kealakekua a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kealakekua ranks 12,761st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on disaster risk and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kealakekua expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $695,192. The overall cost of living runs about 56% above the national average. Set against a $118,838 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Kealakekua safe?
Kealakekua is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $363 per resident a year.
Compare Kealakekua with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kealakekua. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kealakekua 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.
Kealakekua detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kealakekua: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kealakekua: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kealakekua: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kealakekua: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kealakekua 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.