Best PlacesWainaku, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wainaku, 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.
Wainaku ranks 32,353rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wainaku
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.
Wainaku's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wainaku ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
Where Wainaku ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wainaku
A household needs to earn about $133,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wainaku home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,630, 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 Wainaku's effective rate of 0.33%, 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 Wainaku
Wainaku 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 Wainaku.
Who works in Wainaku, and how
Work in Wainaku centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wainaku
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Wainaku, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wainaku, month by month
Wainaku sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 82, with lows near 64. The comfortable stretch runs November through May.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 82° | 72° | 64° |
| April | 82° | 74° | 67° |
| July | 85° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 85° | 76° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Wainaku
The nearest airport, Hilo International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kahului, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wainaku
Schools across Wainaku average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ernest Bowen Desilva Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Haaheo Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Hilo Union Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hilo Intermediate SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Hilo High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wainaku school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wainaku 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 Wainaku against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wainaku
Is Wainaku a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wainaku ranks 32,353rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on distance from a big city and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wainaku expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $544,261. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $68,630 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Wainaku safe?
Wainaku is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $412 per resident a year.
Compare Wainaku with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wainaku. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wainaku 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.
Wainaku detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wainaku: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wainaku: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wainaku: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wainaku: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wainaku 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.