Best PlacesOlowalu, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Olowalu, 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.
Olowalu ranks 19,633rd 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 Olowalu
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.
Olowalu's strengths and weaknesses
Where Olowalu ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 166 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$115,417 median, better than 92% of towns
Where Olowalu ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Olowalu
A household needs to earn about $478,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Olowalu home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $115,417, 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 Olowalu'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 Olowalu
Olowalu 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 Olowalu.
Who works in Olowalu, and how
Work in Olowalu centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Olowalu
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Olowalu, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Olowalu, month by month
Olowalu sees roughly 166 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 Olowalu
Kahului sits about 13 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 Olowalu
Schools across Olowalu average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kamalii Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- King Kamehameha Iii Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Kihei Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lahaina Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Lahainaluna High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Olowalu school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Olowalu 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 Olowalu against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Olowalu
Is Olowalu a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Olowalu ranks 19,633rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, the weather, 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 Olowalu expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,972,200. The overall cost of living runs about 61% above the national average. Set against a $115,417 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Olowalu safe?
Olowalu is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $642 per resident a year.
Compare Olowalu with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Olowalu. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Olowalu 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.
Olowalu detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Olowalu: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Olowalu: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Olowalu: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Olowalu: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Olowalu 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.