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Place dossier plate
SheetHI-WAIKELE-HI · Waikele, HI 7,950 pop · income 84th 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 Waikele
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Waikele on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Crestwood · lowest
38,396
Crestwood · lowest
38,396 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #1
Waikele · this city
111,971
Waikele · this city
111,971 median HH income
86.8% of the leader · rank #2
Alum Rock · near
111,976
Alum Rock · near
111,976 median HH income
86.8% of the leader · rank #3
Eldridge · near
111,983
Eldridge · near
111,983 median HH income
86.8% of the leader · rank #4
Downieville · near
112,000
Downieville · near
112,000 median HH income
86.8% of the leader · rank #5
Longview · near
112,000
Longview · near
112,000 median HH income
86.8% of the leader · rank #6
Ahuimanu · highest
129,028
Ahuimanu · highest
129,028 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 Waikele 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: 7,950.
Nationally, Waikele sits in the 84th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
84th
percentile, household income
93rd
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: Waikele, HI
Waikele is a small town in Hawaii, home to 7,950 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $111,971 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.6%. Typical homes in Waikele are valued around $696,400, and the median resident age is 41.0 years. Educational attainment runs 34.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 67.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. 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. 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 Waikele'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Waikele, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Waikele?
Within Hawaii, the closest population matches are Lihue (7,847 residents, $77,420 income); Pukalani (8,490 residents, $120,707 income); Ahuimanu (8,520 residents, $129,028 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Crestwood, NJ (7,951 residents); Emmett, ID (7,948 residents); Oak Grove, KY (7,945 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 Waikele?
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 74.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Waikele?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.6%, 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.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, Hawaii average
C
City profile score · Waikele, HI
57/100
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 A-
$111,971
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B-
34.8%
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).
Waikele profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 82/100 (A-) · $111,971
Poverty rate: 68/100 (B-) · 4.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 66/100 (B-) · 34.8%
Cost of living: 8/100 (F) · 110.0 index
How does Waikele compare to other US cities?
Waikele measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income84% higher than other cities
Home value93% 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 Waikele 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 Waikele near the bottom of Hawaii's cities
Among the 160 Hawaii cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Waikele ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Waikele only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#45 of 155
71st percentile in Hawaii
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 160
0th percentile in Hawaii
Median Home Value
#85 of 150
43rd percentile in Hawaii
Poverty Rate
#108 of 160
32nd percentile in Hawaii
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#60 of 160
63rd 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
84th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Waikele's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$696,4007th percentilemore affordable than 7% 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
Waikele's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,272 of 15,516
More affordable than 8% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,565 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.2×, Waikele sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,272 of 15,516 and #10,565 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
$111,971Waikele, HI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Waikele, 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 Waikele, HI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)34.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,950
Median Income
$111,971
Median Home Value
$696,400
Median Age
41.0
Poverty Rate
4.6%
Labor force participation
67.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
34.8%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.5%
Carpool
12.1%
Public Transit
3.1%
Walk
0.4%
Work from Home
8.0%
Other
1.9%
Based on 4,821 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 Waikele. 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 Waikele 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 Waikele sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Waikele 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, 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.