Best PlacesWahiawa, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wahiawa, 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.
Wahiawa ranks 7,793rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wahiawa
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.
Wahiawa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wahiawa ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 186 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
Where Wahiawa ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% 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
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wahiawa
A household needs to earn about $191,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wahiawa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $98,090, 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 Wahiawa's effective rate of 0.25%, 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 Wahiawa
Wahiawa's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Wahiawa.
Who works in Wahiawa, and how
Work in Wahiawa centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Wahiawa
Wahiawa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 85% of towns. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wahiawa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wahiawa, month by month
Wahiawa sees roughly 186 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 Wahiawa
Daniel K Inouye International sits about 14 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 Wahiawa
Schools across Wahiawa average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Major Sheldon Wheeler Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Haleiwa Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Iliahi Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Major Sheldon Wheeler Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Wahiawa Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Waialua High & Intermediate SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Leilehua High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wahiawa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wahiawa 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 Wahiawa against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Wahiawa suits
Families
Schools land around the 38th percentile and crime safety beats 73%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Wahiawa
Is Wahiawa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wahiawa ranks 7,793rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, the weather, and clean air, and lowest on civic engagement and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wahiawa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $789,250. The overall cost of living runs about 62% above the national average. Set against a $98,090 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Wahiawa safe?
Yes, Wahiawa is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wahiawa?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 78 with lows near 62. That works out to about 186 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of towns.
Is Wahiawa good for families?
Schools beat 38% of towns, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $1,434 a month.
Compare Wahiawa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wahiawa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wahiawa 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.
Wahiawa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wahiawa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wahiawa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wahiawa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wahiawa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wahiawa 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.