Best PlacesKipahulu, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kipahulu, 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.
Kipahulu ranks 40,825th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kipahulu
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.
Kipahulu's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kipahulu ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 181 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
Where Kipahulu ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kipahulu
A household needs to earn about $418,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kipahulu home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $54,655, 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 Kipahulu'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 Kipahulu
Kipahulu 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 Kipahulu.
Who works in Kipahulu, and how
Work in Kipahulu 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 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Kipahulu
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Kipahulu, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kipahulu, month by month
Kipahulu sees roughly 181 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 Kipahulu
Kahului sits about 26 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 Kipahulu
Schools across Kipahulu average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kula Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% 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 Kipahulu school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kipahulu 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 Kipahulu against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kipahulu
Is Kipahulu a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kipahulu ranks 40,825th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, the weather, and quiet, and lowest on internet speeds 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 Kipahulu expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,718,800. The overall cost of living runs about 64% above the national average. Set against a $54,655 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Kipahulu safe?
Kipahulu is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $485 per resident a year.
Compare Kipahulu with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kipahulu. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kipahulu 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.
Kipahulu detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kipahulu: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kipahulu: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kipahulu: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kipahulu: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kipahulu 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.