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Place dossier plate
SheetHI-MAKAWAO-HI · Makawao, HI 7,263 pop · income 75th 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 Makawao
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Makawao on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bridge · lowest
55,728
Bridge · lowest
55,728 median HH income
22.3% of the leader · rank #1
Mukwonago · near
96,096
Mukwonago · near
96,096 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #2
Hickory Corne… · near
96,105
Hickory Corne… · near
96,105 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #3
Rickardsville · near
96,111
Rickardsville · near
96,111 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #4
Makawao · this city
96,116
Makawao · this city
96,116 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #5
Sandusky · near
96,118
Sandusky · near
96,118 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #6
Rumson · highest
250,001
Rumson · highest
250,001 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 Makawao 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: 7,263.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Makawao places in the 75th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
75th
percentile, household income
95th
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: Makawao, HI
7,263 people live in Makawao, Hawaii - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Makawao households earn a median of $96,116 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 7.1%. Makawao's housing stock carries a median value of $819,600, and the median resident age is 43.5 years. About 30.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 57.4% 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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,433 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Hawaii run around $280, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Makawao'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 Makawao, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; 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 Makawao?
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 8.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. 30.0% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Makawao?
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 Wailua Homesteads (7,136 residents, $94,900 income); Waikoloa (7,028 residents, $92,713 income); Ewa Villages (6,918 residents, $85,043 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Emerson, NJ (7,263 residents); Rumson, NJ (7,265 residents); Yorketown, NJ (7,265 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 Makawao?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.2%. 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.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, Hawaii average
D
City profile score · Makawao, HI
49/100
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+
$96,116
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C
30.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate C-
7.1%
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).
Makawao profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 75/100 (B+) · $96,116
Bachelor's+ share: 58/100 (C) · 30.0%
Poverty rate: 52/100 (C-) · 7.1%
Cost of living: 8/100 (F) · 110.0 index
How does Makawao compare to other US cities?
Where Makawao sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income75% higher than other cities
Home value95% 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 Makawao 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 Makawao near the bottom of Hawaii's cities
Among the 160 Hawaii cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Makawao ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Makawao only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#66 of 155
57th percentile in Hawaii
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 160
0th percentile in Hawaii
Median Home Value
#65 of 150
57th percentile in Hawaii
Poverty Rate
#69 of 160
56th percentile in Hawaii
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#81 of 160
49th 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
75th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Makawao's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$819,6005th percentilemore affordable than 5% 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
Makawao's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,171 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,117 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 8.5×, Makawao sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,171 of 15,516 and #11,117 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
$96,116Makawao, HI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Makawao, 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 Makawao, HI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)30.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,263
Median Income
$96,116
Median Home Value
$819,600
Median Age
43.5
Poverty Rate
7.1%
Labor force participation
57.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
30.0%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.2%
Carpool
10.0%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
3.3%
Work from Home
12.6%
Other
0.6%
Based on 3,100 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 Makawao. 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 Makawao 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 Makawao sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Makawao 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.