Best PlacesMaui County, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Maui County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Maui County ranks 496th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Its strengths are clean air and low property taxes. The cost shows up in an overheated housing market, civic engagement, and state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Maui County
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.
The best areas in Maui County
The parts of Maui County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Wailuku
Fewer homes sit empty, local pay stretches further, and more households have young kids.
Lanai City
Kahului
It is noisier.
Kula & Makawao
More adults hold degrees, though biking is worse.
Kihei
Streets are more walkable, though prices have run up more.
Kaunakakai
Commutes are shorter, though crime runs higher.
Lahaina
Schools score lower and health care is harder to reach.
Haiku-Pauwela & Paia
Homes cost more and incomes run lower.
Scores across Maui County run from about the 15th to the 91st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Maui County's strengths and weaknesses
Maui County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Clean air is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Low property taxes and a strong job market follow.
The one real hole is an overheated housing market, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and state finances also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Maui County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 97% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 170 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of counties
- Household income$101,744 median, better than 93% of counties
Where Maui County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,076 a month, better than only 13% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Maui County
A household needs to earn about $221,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maui County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $101,744, 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 Maui County's effective rate of 0.20%, 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 Maui County
Maui County 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 Maui County.
Who works in Maui County, and how
Work in Maui County centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Maui County
Maui County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of counties. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Maui County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Maui County growing, and who is moving in?
Maui County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Honolulu, HI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Maui County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Maui County, month by month
Maui County sees roughly 170 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 Maui County
Kahului sits about 5 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 Maui County
Schools across Maui County average a C+, better than 45% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Pomaikai Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Kamalii Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Puu Kukui Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lokelani Intermediate SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Maui Waena Intermediate SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Iao Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Maui High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- King Kekaulike High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Henry Perrine Baldwin High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maui County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maui County 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 Maui County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Maui County suits
Families
Schools land around the 45th percentile and crime safety beats 72%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Maui County
Is Maui County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maui County ranks 496th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on an overheated housing market and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maui County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $920,866. The overall cost of living runs about 51% above the national average. Set against a $101,744 median income, cost of living beats 16% of counties.
Is Maui County safe?
Yes, Maui County is safer than 72% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $350 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Maui County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 83 with lows near 63. That works out to about 170 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Maui County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wailuku, Lanai City, and Kahului. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Maui County good for families?
Schools beat 45% of counties, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $1,076 a month.
Is Maui County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 16% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 74% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Maui County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maui County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maui County 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.
Maui County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maui County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maui County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maui County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maui County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maui County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.