Kapaa, Hawaii

Area Profile

11,094 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Kapaa, in Kauai County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 4% of 3,904 cities measured83
Schools2180th of 2,668 cities measured26
Housing affordability4127th of 4,223 cities measured34
ClimateTop 4% of 4,223 cities measured93
Physical resilience3081st of 4,182 cities measured33
Access4172nd of 4,226 cities measured34
Economic stability2315th of 4,226 cities measured58
The quick read

Kapaa ranks in the top 4% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 2.8% and median household income of $89,477.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 9.6 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 27% of it.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, tsunami and wildfire.

At a glance

Population
11,094
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$89,477
Top 25% nationally
Density
1,106/sq mi
10.0 sq mi of land
Median age
48.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kauai County
Hawaii
Metro area
Kapaa, HI
Nearest major airport
JRF
98 mi · Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Fld)
Median home value
$861,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.8% is lower than 97% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.3% over the past year, to 37,043 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$13,477$89,477Top 25%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,259$41,091Top 30%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.5%Bottom 35%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.6 minTop 36%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher29.7%Top 31%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment37,043Bottom 43%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.4%Top 12%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.3%Top 24%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force38,092Bottom 43%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation64.1%Top 38%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 40%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate2.8%Bottom 3%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202494k88k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $89,477 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Kauai County, HI, which contains this city.

22% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 33% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
3
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
22.2%
Bottom 23% in Hawaii
Reading proficiency
32.9%
Bottom 23% in Hawaii
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Kapaa High SchoolHawaii Department of Education1,00517.3
Kapaa Elementary SchoolHawaii Department of Education84416.225%30%
Kapaa Middle SchoolHawaii Department of Education50716.417%37%

44.2% 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 $2,020 takes 27% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 9.6 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
27.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
9.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,020
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$861,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income9.63Top 2%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate69.0%Bottom 36%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3084,169Top 13%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$186$2,020Top 8%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$39,861$861,300Top 4%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income27.1%Top 11%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate12.5%Top 41%of 32,0012024 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

10 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 66°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 36.2 inches.

60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LIHUE WSO AP 1020.1, 7.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation36.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low66°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months101991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing8°F1991-2020 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

33 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tsunami and wildfire.

LandslideModerate
WildfireElevated
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
TsunamiHigh

Low or minimal exposure: hurricane, coastal flooding, earthquake, drought, tornado, strong wind.

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.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Kauai County records 1.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 2.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.5 per 100,000 residents in Kauai County.

Homicide
1.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
2.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
9.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Kauai County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Kapaa rather than Kapaa itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

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.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 98 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Fld)JRF98 mi8,365 ft
Daniel K Inouye IntlHNL106 mi12,360 ft
Hilo IntlITO322 mi9,803 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.

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Compare

Put Kapaa side by side with a similar place.

Kapaa vs LahainaKapaa vs WailukuKapaa vs KahuluiKapaa vs Anacortes

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory 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 Kapaa

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9674619,329$88,802