Best PlacesLaie, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Laie, 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.
Laie ranks 2,784th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Laie
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.
Laie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Laie ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
Where Laie ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,434 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Laie
A household needs to earn about $233,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $124,433, 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 Laie's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 Laie
Laie runs younger 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 Laie.
Who works in Laie, and how
Work in Laie centers on education and arts & entertainment. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 48%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 41%
Life in Laie
Laie has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of towns. The coast is about 0 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Laie and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Laie, month by month
Laie sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 78, with lows near 62. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78° | 69° | 62° |
| April | 80° | 72° | 64° |
| July | 84° | 76° | 69° |
| October | 83° | 75° | 67° |
Flying in and out of Laie
Daniel K Inouye International sits about 23 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.5 million passengers in 2025, with 65 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Laie
Schools across Laie average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Laie Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Hauula Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Kahuku High & Intermediate SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laie 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 Laie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Laie
Is Laie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laie ranks 2,784th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on civic engagement and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Laie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $953,937. The overall cost of living runs about 87% above the national average. Set against a $124,433 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Laie safe?
Yes, Laie is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Laie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laie 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.
Laie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laie 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.