Best PlacesWaimanalo Beach, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waimanalo Beach, 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.
Waimanalo Beach ranks 4,101st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waimanalo Beach
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.
Waimanalo Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waimanalo Beach ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$138,791 median, better than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
Where Waimanalo Beach ranks low
- 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 12% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waimanalo Beach
A household needs to earn about $246,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waimanalo Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $138,791, 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 Waimanalo Beach's effective rate of 0.30%, 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 Waimanalo Beach
Waimanalo Beach 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 Waimanalo Beach.
Who works in Waimanalo Beach, and how
Work in Waimanalo Beach centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Waimanalo Beach
The coast is about 3 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Waimanalo Beach, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Waimanalo Beach, month by month
Waimanalo Beach sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 81, with lows near 70. The comfortable stretch runs January through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 81° | 75° | 70° |
| April | 82° | 77° | 72° |
| July | 85° | 80° | 75° |
| October | 86° | 80° | 75° |
Flying in and out of Waimanalo Beach
Daniel K Inouye International sits about 16 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 Waimanalo Beach
Schools across Waimanalo Beach average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kamiloiki Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Blanche Pope Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
- Waimanalo Elementary & Intermediate SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Niu Valley Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Henry J Kaiser High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Kailua High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waimanalo Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waimanalo Beach 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 Waimanalo Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waimanalo Beach
Is Waimanalo Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waimanalo Beach ranks 4,101st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, clean air, and few empty homes, and lowest on childcare costs and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waimanalo Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,011,261. The overall cost of living runs about 122% above the national average. Set against a $138,791 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Waimanalo Beach safe?
Yes, Waimanalo Beach is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
Compare Waimanalo Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waimanalo Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waimanalo Beach 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.
Waimanalo Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waimanalo Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waimanalo Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waimanalo Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waimanalo Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waimanalo Beach 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.