Best PlacesKukuihaele, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kukuihaele, 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.
Kukuihaele ranks 39,419th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kukuihaele
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.
Kukuihaele's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kukuihaele ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 156 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
Where Kukuihaele ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute42.7 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kukuihaele
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kukuihaele home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,688, 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 Kukuihaele's effective rate of 0.31%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kukuihaele
Kukuihaele 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 Kukuihaele.
Who works in Kukuihaele, and how
Work in Kukuihaele centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kukuihaele
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Kukuihaele, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kukuihaele, month by month
Kukuihaele sees roughly 156 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs March through January.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 55° | 40° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 77° | 62° | 47° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Kukuihaele
The nearest airport, Waimea-Kohala, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kahului, about 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kukuihaele
Schools across Kukuihaele average a C−, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Honokaa Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Waimea Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Honokaa High & Intermediate SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kukuihaele school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kukuihaele 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 Kukuihaele against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kukuihaele
Is Kukuihaele a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kukuihaele ranks 39,419th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, clean air, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kukuihaele expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $663,100. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $76,688 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Kukuihaele safe?
Kukuihaele is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $521 per resident a year.
Compare Kukuihaele with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kukuihaele. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kukuihaele 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.
Kukuihaele detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kukuihaele: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kukuihaele: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kukuihaele: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kukuihaele: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kukuihaele 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.