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Place dossier plate
SheetHI-KUALAPUU-HI · Kualapuu, HI 2,357 pop · income 23rd 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 Kualapuu
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kualapuu on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kualapuu · this city · lowest
52,500
Kualapuu · this city · lowest
52,500 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #1
Avon · near
52,500
Avon · near
52,500 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #2
Malvern · near
52,500
Malvern · near
52,500 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #3
McIntyre · near
52,500
McIntyre · near
52,500 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #4
Waleska · near
52,500
Waleska · near
52,500 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #5
Maunawili · highest
176,528
Maunawili · highest
176,528 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Kualapuu 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: 2,357.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Kualapuu lands in the 23rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
23rd
percentile, household income
57th
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: Kualapuu, HI
2,357 people live in Kualapuu, Hawaii - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Kualapuu report a median income of $52,500 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.4%. Home values in Kualapuu run a median of $258,900, and the median resident age is 38.7 years. Educational attainment runs 20.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 47.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,433 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $280 across Hawaii, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Kualapuu'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 work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kualapuu, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Kualapuu?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.4%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Kualapuu?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 20.0% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Kualapuu?
Within Hawaii, the closest population matches are Honokaa (2,353 residents, $85,556 income); Eleele (2,339 residents, $122,308 income); Koloa (2,327 residents, $76,316 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Coal Creek, CO (2,357 residents); Argentine, MI (2,357 residents); Spring Valley, MN (2,357 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.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, Hawaii average
F
City profile score · Kualapuu, HI
20/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$52,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.4%
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).
Kualapuu profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 20.0%
Household income: 24/100 (F) · $52,500
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.4%
Cost of living: 8/100 (F) · 110.0 index
How does Kualapuu compare to other US cities?
Where Kualapuu sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income23% higher than other cities
Home value57% 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 Kualapuu 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 Kualapuu near the bottom of Hawaii's cities
Among the 160 Hawaii cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kualapuu ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kualapuu only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#143 of 155
8th percentile in Hawaii
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 160
0th percentile in Hawaii
Median Home Value
#138 of 150
8th percentile in Hawaii
Poverty Rate
#22 of 160
86th percentile in Hawaii
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#126 of 160
21st 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
23rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Kualapuu's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$258,90043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
Kualapuu's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,772 of 15,516
More affordable than 18% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,683 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.9×, Kualapuu sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,772 of 15,516 and #9,683 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
$52,500Kualapuu, HI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kualapuu, 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 Kualapuu, HI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,357
Median Income
$52,500
Median Home Value
$258,900
Median Age
38.7
Poverty Rate
17.4%
Labor force participation
47.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.0%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.7%
Carpool
11.9%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
2.1%
Work from Home
16.1%
Other
2.7%
Based on 841 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 Kualapuu. 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 Kualapuu 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 Kualapuu sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kualapuu 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.