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Place dossier plate
SheetHI-KAUNAKAKAI-HI · Kaunakakai, HI 3,721 pop · income 58th pct · 2 tracts
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 Kaunakakai
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kaunakakai on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hawaiian Ocea… · lowest
45,917
Hawaiian Ocea… · lowest
45,917 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #1
Hustisford · near
76,938
Hustisford · near
76,938 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #2
Moore · near
76,941
Moore · near
76,941 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #3
Kaunakakai · this city
76,944
Kaunakakai · this city
76,944 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #4
Harwich Center · near
76,944
Harwich Center · near
76,944 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #5
Otsego · near
76,944
Otsego · near
76,944 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #6
Captain Cook · highest
124,551
Captain Cook · highest
124,551 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 Kaunakakai 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: 3,721.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Kaunakakai lands in the 58th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
58th
percentile, household income
70th
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: Kaunakakai, HI
Hawaii's Kaunakakai is a small town, with 3,721 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Kaunakakai households earn a median of $76,944 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 19.6%. Typical homes in Kaunakakai are valued around $335,200, and the median resident age is 33.7 years. Educational attainment runs 16.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 55.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Hawaii carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Hawaii at 110.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,433 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Hawaii run around $280, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Kaunakakai'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kaunakakai, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Kaunakakai?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 63.4%. 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.
What does the education layer cover for Kaunakakai?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 16.8% 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 Kaunakakai?
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 Captain Cook (3,751 residents, $124,551 income); Waikapu (3,645 residents, $121,618 income); Hawaiian Ocean View (3,809 residents, $45,917 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Angels, CA (3,721 residents); Felton, CA (3,721 residents); Kitty Hawk, NC (3,721 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 can 2 Census tracts reveal inside Kaunakakai?
PlainCities matches 2 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Kaunakakai?
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 4.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.4×
Home value
$335,200
Household income
$76,944
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 19.6% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.0 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, Hawaii average
F
City profile score · Kaunakakai, HI
28/100
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 C
$76,944
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.6%
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).
Kaunakakai profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 56/100 (C) · $76,944
Bachelor's+ share: 25/100 (F) · 16.8%
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.6%
Cost of living: 8/100 (F) · 110.0 index
How does Kaunakakai compare to other US cities?
Here's how Kaunakakai stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income58% higher than other cities
Home value70% 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 Kaunakakai 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 Kaunakakai near the bottom of Hawaii's cities
Among the 160 Hawaii cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kaunakakai ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kaunakakai only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#114 of 155
26th percentile in Hawaii
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 160
0th percentile in Hawaii
Median Home Value
#129 of 150
14th percentile in Hawaii
Poverty Rate
#16 of 160
90th percentile in Hawaii
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#139 of 160
13th 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
58th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Kaunakakai's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$335,20030th percentilemore affordable than 30% 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
Kaunakakai's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,664 of 15,516
More affordable than 25% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,973 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.4×, Kaunakakai sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,664 of 15,516 and #8,973 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$76,944Kaunakakai, HI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kaunakakai, 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 Kaunakakai, HI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,721
Median Income
$76,944
Median Home Value
$335,200
Median Age
33.7
Poverty Rate
19.6%
Labor force participation
55.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.8%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
63.4%
Carpool
9.9%
Public Transit
3.2%
Walk
6.8%
Work from Home
9.8%
Other
6.9%
Based on 1,474 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 Kaunakakai. 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 Kaunakakai 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 Kaunakakai sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kaunakakai 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.