Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetHI-KAPAAU-HI · Kapaau, HI 2,029 pop · income 56th 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 Kapaau
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kapaau on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kensett · lowest
27,839
Kensett · lowest
27,839 median HH income
15.1% of the leader · rank #1
Kapaau · this city
74,583
Kapaau · this city
74,583 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #2
Colfax · near
74,583
Colfax · near
74,583 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #3
Frankford · near
74,583
Frankford · near
74,583 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #4
Grantville · near
74,583
Grantville · near
74,583 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #5
Georgetown · near
74,583
Georgetown · near
74,583 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #6
Hedwig · highest
184,141
Hedwig · highest
184,141 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 Kapaau 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: 2,029.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Kapaau lands in the 56th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
56th
percentile, household income
88th
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: Kapaau, HI
Kapaau is a small town in Hawaii, home to 2,029 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $74,583 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.2%. Typical homes in Kapaau are valued around $577,600, and the median resident age is 45.3 years. About 14.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Hawaii carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 110.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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). Natural-hazard exposure scores 75.0 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Kapaau'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 housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kapaau, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Kapaau?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 14.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Which cities make useful reference points for Kapaau?
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.
Within Hawaii, the closest population matches are Kealakekua (1,989 residents, $79,332 income); Waimea CDP (Kauai County) (2,070 residents, $87,222 income); Wheeler AFB (2,196 residents, $88,409 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Coats, NC (2,029 residents); Hedwig, TX (2,029 residents); Buna, TX (2,030 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Kapaau?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Above median income · poverty 4.2% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.0 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, Hawaii average
D
City profile score · Kapaau, HI
40/100
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.
Poverty rate B
4.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$74,583
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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).
Kapaau profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 71/100 (B) · 4.2%
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $74,583
Bachelor's+ share: 18/100 (F) · 14.3%
Cost of living: 8/100 (F) · 110.0 index
How does Kapaau compare to other US cities?
Where Kapaau sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income56% higher than other cities
Home value88% 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 Kapaau 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 Kapaau near the bottom of Hawaii's cities
Among the 160 Hawaii cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kapaau ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kapaau only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#119 of 155
23rd percentile in Hawaii
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 160
0th percentile in Hawaii
Median Home Value
#102 of 150
32nd percentile in Hawaii
Poverty Rate
#115 of 160
28th percentile in Hawaii
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#147 of 160
8th 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
56th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Kapaau's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$577,60012th percentilemore affordable than 12% 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
Kapaau's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,951 of 15,516
More affordable than 4% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,969 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.7×, Kapaau sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,951 of 15,516 and #10,969 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$74,583Kapaau, HI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kapaau, 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 Kapaau, HI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,029
Median Income
$74,583
Median Home Value
$577,600
Median Age
45.3
Poverty Rate
4.2%
Labor force participation
58.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.3%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.5%
Carpool
30.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.1%
Work from Home
4.5%
Based on 1,005 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 Kapaau. 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 Kapaau 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 Kapaau sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kapaau 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, NCES CCD, 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.