Best PlacesPuuwai, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Puuwai, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Puuwai ranks 44,930th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
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The best neighborhoods in Puuwai
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.
Puuwai's strengths and weaknesses
Where Puuwai ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 143 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
Where Puuwai ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
Who lives in Puuwai
Puuwai 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 Puuwai.
Life in Puuwai
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Puuwai.
What the weather is like in Puuwai, month by month
Puuwai sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 81, with lows near 65. The comfortable stretch runs December through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 81° | 73° | 65° |
| April | 83° | 75° | 67° |
| July | 88° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 87° | 79° | 71° |
Flying in and out of Puuwai
The nearest airport, Lihue, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Daniel K Inouye International, about 149 miles away.
The best schools in and around Puuwai
Schools across Puuwai average a D, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kekaha Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Puuwai school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Puuwai 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 Puuwai against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Puuwai
Is Puuwai a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Puuwai ranks 44,930th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, quiet, and civic engagement, and lowest on cell coverage and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Puuwai safe?
Puuwai is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Puuwai?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 81 with lows near 65. That works out to about 143 pleasant days a year, more than 90% of towns.
Compare Puuwai with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Puuwai. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Puuwai 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.
Puuwai detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Puuwai: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Puuwai: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Puuwai: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Puuwai: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Puuwai 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.
- 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.