Best PlacesWailuku, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wailuku, 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.
Wailuku ranks 650th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wailuku
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.
Wailuku's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wailuku ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 99% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 156 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of cities
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 83% of cities
Where Wailuku ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Wailuku
A household needs to earn about $187,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wailuku home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $114,226, 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 Wailuku's effective rate of 0.14%, 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 Wailuku
Wailuku 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 Wailuku.
Who works in Wailuku, and how
Work in Wailuku centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Wailuku
Wailuku has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 2 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wailuku and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wailuku, month by month
Wailuku sees roughly 156 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 Wailuku
Kahului sits about 4 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 Wailuku
Schools across Wailuku average a C, better than 24% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Puu Kukui Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Kihei Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Waihee Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maui Waena Intermediate SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Iao Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Lahaina Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Maui High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Henry Perrine Baldwin High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Lahainaluna High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wailuku school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wailuku 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 Wailuku against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Wailuku suits
Families
Schools land around the 24th percentile and crime safety beats 76%.
Common questions about living in Wailuku
Is Wailuku a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wailuku ranks 650th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low property taxes, clean air, and a strong job market, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wailuku expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $785,635. The overall cost of living runs about 39% above the national average. Set against a $114,226 median income, cost of living beats 28% of cities.
Is Wailuku safe?
Yes, Wailuku is safer than 76% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wailuku?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 83 with lows near 63. That works out to about 156 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of cities.
Is Wailuku good for families?
Schools beat 24% of cities, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $1,076 a month.
Compare Wailuku with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wailuku. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wailuku 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.
Wailuku detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wailuku: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wailuku: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wailuku: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wailuku: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wailuku 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.