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Place dossier plate
SheetHI-NAALEHU-HI · Naalehu, HI 837 pop · income 50th 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 Naalehu
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Naalehu on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Fern Forest · lowest
33,173
Fern Forest · lowest
33,173 median HH income
23.9% of the leader · rank #1
Naalehu · this city
70,469
Naalehu · this city
70,469 median HH income
50.8% of the leader · rank #2
Greenfield · near
70,469
Greenfield · near
70,469 median HH income
50.8% of the leader · rank #3
Conway Springs · near
70,469
Conway Springs · near
70,469 median HH income
50.8% of the leader · rank #4
Meadowview Es… · near
70,469
Meadowview Es… · near
70,469 median HH income
50.8% of the leader · rank #5
Centre Hall · near
70,469
Centre Hall · near
70,469 median HH income
50.8% of the leader · rank #6
Volcano Golf… · highest
138,726
Volcano Golf… · highest
138,726 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 Naalehu 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: 837.
Nationally, Naalehu sits in the 50th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
50th
percentile, household income
47th
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: Naalehu, HI
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 837 residents in Naalehu, a small town within Hawaii. Naalehu households earn a median of $70,469 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.1%. Home values in Naalehu run a median of $215,600, and the median resident age is 30.2 years. Educational attainment runs 11.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 54.0% 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: 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. Monthly utility costs average around $280 across Hawaii, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.0 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Naalehu'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 Naalehu, 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.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Naalehu?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.1%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 11.7% 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 Naalehu?
Within Hawaii, the closest population matches are Punaluu (855 residents, $88,611 income); Waiahole-Waikane (879 residents, $80,556 income); Fern Forest (880 residents, $33,173 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Wadley, AL (837 residents); Tulelake, CA (837 residents); Ashton, IL (837 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Naalehu?
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 49.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Above median income · poverty 6.1% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.0 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, Hawaii average
F
City profile score · Naalehu, HI
34/100
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 C
6.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$70,469
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.7%
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).
Naalehu profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 58/100 (C) · 6.1%
Household income: 50/100 (C-) · $70,469
Bachelor's+ share: 11/100 (F) · 11.7%
Cost of living: 8/100 (F) · 110.0 index
How does Naalehu compare to other US cities?
Here's how Naalehu stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income50% higher than other cities
Home value47% 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 Naalehu 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 Naalehu near the bottom of Hawaii's cities
Among the 160 Hawaii cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Naalehu ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Naalehu only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#126 of 155
19th percentile in Hawaii
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 160
0th percentile in Hawaii
Median Home Value
#147 of 150
2nd percentile in Hawaii
Poverty Rate
#83 of 160
47th percentile in Hawaii
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#154 of 160
4th 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
50th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Naalehu's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$215,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 53% 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
Naalehu's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#6,994 of 15,516
More affordable than 55% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,870 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Naalehu sits in the moderate band:
national rank #6,994 of 15,516 and #5,870 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
$70,469Naalehu, HI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Naalehu, 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 Naalehu, HI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
837
Median Income
$70,469
Median Home Value
$215,600
Median Age
30.2
Poverty Rate
6.1%
Labor force participation
54.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.7%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
49.7%
Carpool
34.2%
Public Transit
4.5%
Walk
6.8%
Work from Home
1.6%
Other
3.2%
Based on 310 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 Naalehu. 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 Naalehu 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 Naalehu sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Naalehu 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.