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Place dossier plate
SheetHI-KAILUA-CDP-HAWAII-COUNTY-HI · Kailua CDP (Hawaii County), HI 21,851 pop · income 68th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Kailua CDP (Hawaii County)
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sedalia · lowest
50,668
Sedalia · lowest
50,668 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #1
Kailua CDP (H… · this city
86,743
Kailua CDP (H… · this city
86,743 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #2
Erie · near
86,750
Erie · near
86,750 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #3
North Newton · near
86,750
North Newton · near
86,750 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #4
Mazomanie · near
86,750
Mazomanie · near
86,750 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #5
Crystal · near
86,752
Crystal · near
86,752 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #6
Mililani Mauka · highest
139,564
Mililani Mauka · highest
139,564 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 21,851.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) places in the 68th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
68th
percentile, household income
91st
percentile, home value
99th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Kailua CDP (Hawaii County), HI
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 21,851 residents in Kailua CDP (Hawaii County), a small city within Hawaii. Households in Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) report a median income of $86,743 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.6%. Kailua CDP (Hawaii County)'s housing stock carries a median value of $649,400, and the median resident age is 42.2 years. About 33.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 59.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Hawaii carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Hawaii scores 110.0 (Well Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,433 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Hawaii's average monthly utility costs around $280 (state average). The average commute for Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) workers runs 19.3 minutes, with 60.7% driving alone and 10.7% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 75.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Kailua CDP (Hawaii County)'s data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kailua CDP (Hawaii County), city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Kailua CDP (Hawaii County)?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 60.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.3 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Kailua CDP (Hawaii County)?
Within Hawaii, the closest population matches are Mililani Mauka (21,967 residents, $139,564 income); Kihei (22,564 residents, $87,568 income); Kapolei (23,033 residents, $129,260 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Darien, IL (21,855 residents); Lino Lakes, MN (21,847 residents); Shelby, NC (21,868 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
How far does income reach against housing in Kailua CDP (Hawaii County)?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Above median income · poverty 10.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.0 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, Hawaii average
D
City profile score · Kailua CDP (Hawaii County), HI
44/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income B-
$86,743
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C+
33.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
110.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
How does Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) compare to other US cities?
Where Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income68% higher than other cities
Home value91% pricier than other cities
Median rent99% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Hawaii only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Hawaii-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) near the bottom of Hawaii's cities
Among the 160 Hawaii cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#89 of 155
43rd percentile in Hawaii
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 160
0th percentile in Hawaii
Median Home Value
#91 of 150
39th percentile in Hawaii
Poverty Rate
#43 of 160
73rd percentile in Hawaii
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#65 of 160
59th percentile in Hawaii
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Hawaii only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
68th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Kailua CDP (Hawaii County)'s home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$649,4009th percentilemore affordable than 9% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,876 of 15,516
More affordable than 4% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,164 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 7.5×, Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,876 of 15,516 and #3,164 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$86,743Kailua CDP (Hawaii County), HI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kailua CDP (Hawaii County), HI median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Kailua CDP (Hawaii County), HI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)33.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
21,851
Median Income
$86,743
Median Home Value
$649,400
Median Age
42.2
Poverty Rate
10.6%
Labor force participation
59.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
33.2%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.3 minutes
Drive Alone
60.7%
Carpool
22.0%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
3.3%
Work from Home
10.7%
Other
3.0%
Based on 10,038 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Hawaii statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $280
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Hawaii at $280 (electricity about $220 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Hawaii statewide averages, not a meter reading for Kailua CDP (Hawaii County). Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Hawaii's BEA cost-of-living index is 110.0 (Well Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) is $2,433/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Hawaii statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.0 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Hawaii statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) compares to similar-size Hawaii cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.