Hilo, Hawaii
Area Profile
50,404 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Hilo, in Hawaii County.
Missing required signals: opportunity, growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.
In the public schools here, 25% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.4 students for every teacher.
Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and volcanic activity.
A major airport is 3 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
35% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 76% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$7,098 | $81,779 | Top 32% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$3,038 | $41,708 | Top 29% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 14.5% | Top 37% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 21.3 min | Bottom 22% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 34.6% | Top 24% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Labor force participation | 59.4% | Bottom 46% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Schools
How it’s calculated →25% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 41% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 14.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waiakea High School | Hawaii Department of Education | 1,183 | 15.4 | — | — |
| Hilo High School | Hawaii Department of Education | 1,170 | 15.8 | — | — |
| Waiakea Intermediate School | Hawaii Department of Education | 857 | 15.6 | 22% | 47% |
| Waiakea Elementary School | Hawaii Department of Education | 706 | 15.0 | 32% | 45% |
| Waiakeawaena Elementary School | Hawaii Department of Education | 669 | 12.9 | 27% | 44% |
| Hilo Intermediate School | Hawaii Department of Education | 560 | 14.4 | 27% | 47% |
| Hilo Union Elementary School | Hawaii Department of Education | 449 | 12.1 | 15% | 30% |
| Ernest Bowen DeSilva Elementary School | Hawaii Department of Education | 422 | 18.3 | 57% | 67% |
| Chiefess Kapiolani Elementary School | Hawaii Department of Education | 354 | 14.2 | 9% | 21% |
| Connections - New Century PCS · charter | Hawaii Department of Education | 352 | 12.1 | 12% | 27% |
| Keaukaha Elementary School | Hawaii Department of Education | 341 | 12.2 | 21% | 34% |
| Ka Umeke Kaeo - PCS · charter | Hawaii Department of Education | 292 | 12.7 | 17% | 25% |
53.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Hawaii’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $1,427 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 5.9 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 5.91 | Top 9% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 66.1% | Bottom 30% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±687 | 19,265 | Top 3% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$89 | $1,427 | Top 23% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$14,775 | $483,000 | Top 12% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 20.9% | Top 35% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 7.9% | Bottom 42% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.
Weather & climate
12 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 83°F and January a low of 64°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 120.4 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 120.4" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 64°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 83°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 12 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 5°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and volcanic activity.
Low or minimal exposure: lightning, landslide, hurricane, coastal flooding, drought, ice storm, tornado, hail, cold wave, strong wind, winter weather.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.
Access
1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 3 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hilo Intl | ITO | 3 mi | 9,803 ft |
| Daniel K Inouye Intl | HNL | 215 mi | 12,360 ft |
| Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Fld) | JRF | 223 mi | 8,365 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
Customize your score
What matters to you?
Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.
Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.
Other cities in Hilo-Kailua, HI
Same metropolitan area, measured the same way| City | County | Population | Area Score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kailua | Hawaii County | 21,818 | — | vs Hilo |
| Hawaiian Paradise Park | Hawaii County | 13,203 | — | vs Hilo |
| Kaiminani | Hawaii County | 11,465 | — | vs Hilo |
Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Hilo side by side with a similar place.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.
ZIP codes in Hilo
1 published ZIP profiles| ZIP | Population | Median household income | Area Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 96720 | 52,979 | $80,938 | — |