Best PlacesNiumalu, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Niumalu, 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.
Niumalu ranks 2,076th 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 Niumalu
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.
Niumalu's strengths and weaknesses
Where Niumalu ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute14.1 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
Where Niumalu ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Niumalu
A household needs to earn about $249,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Niumalu home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $128,169, 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 Niumalu's effective rate of 0.23%, 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 Niumalu
Niumalu runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Niumalu.
Who works in Niumalu, and how
Work in Niumalu centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Niumalu
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Niumalu, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Niumalu, month by month
Niumalu sees roughly 114 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 Niumalu
The nearest airport, Lihue, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Daniel K Inouye International, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Niumalu
Schools across Niumalu average a B−, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elsie H Wilcox Elementary SchoolB− · 41% 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 Niumalu school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Niumalu 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 Niumalu against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Niumalu
Is Niumalu a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Niumalu ranks 2,076th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, short commutes, 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 Niumalu expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,033,862. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $128,169 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Niumalu safe?
Yes, Niumalu is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
Compare Niumalu with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Niumalu. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Niumalu 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.
Niumalu detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Niumalu: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Niumalu: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Niumalu: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Niumalu: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Niumalu 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.