Best PlacesKukuiula, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kukuiula, 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.
Kukuiula ranks 16,195th 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 Kukuiula
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.
Kukuiula's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kukuiula ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of towns
Where Kukuiula ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kukuiula
A household needs to earn about $175,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kukuiula home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,432, 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 Kukuiula's effective rate of 0.27%, 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 Kukuiula
Kukuiula 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 Kukuiula.
Who works in Kukuiula, and how
Work in Kukuiula centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Kukuiula
The coast is about 3 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Kukuiula, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kukuiula, month by month
Kukuiula sees roughly 121 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 Kukuiula
The nearest airport, Lihue, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Daniel K Inouye International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kukuiula
Schools across Kukuiula average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Koloa Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Kalaheo Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Kauai High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kukuiula school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kukuiula 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 Kukuiula against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kukuiula
Is Kukuiula a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kukuiula ranks 16,195th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, cell coverage, and low property taxes, 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 Kukuiula expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $723,096. The overall cost of living runs about 52% above the national average. Set against a $82,432 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Kukuiula safe?
Kukuiula is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
Compare Kukuiula with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kukuiula. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kukuiula 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.
Kukuiula detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kukuiula: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kukuiula: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kukuiula: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kukuiula: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kukuiula 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.