96746Kapaa, Hawaii

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 96746.

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 5% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured83
Schools4011th of 4,422 ZIP areas measured19
Housing affordability6507th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured32
ClimateTop 5% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured93
Physical resilience4964th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured33
Access6715th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured34
Economic stability3892nd of 6,742 ZIP areas measured56
The quick read

96746 ranks in the top 5% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 2.8% and median household income of $88,802.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 9.9 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 28% of it.

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

At a glance

Population
19,329
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$88,802
Top 28% nationally
Density
648/sq mi
29.8 sq mi of land
Median age
47.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Kapaa
Hawaii
Metro area
Kapaa, HI
Nearest major airport
JRF
99 mi · Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Fld)
Median home value
$882,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.8% is lower than 98% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

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

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,319$88,802Top 28%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,191$47,438Top 23%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.9%Bottom 41%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.0 minTop 49%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher31.7%Top 31%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment37,043Bottom 37%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.4%Top 12%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.3%Top 24%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force38,092Bottom 37%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation65.1%Top 32%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 40%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate2.8%Bottom 2%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202493k89k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $88,802 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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Kapaa, HI, the city containing this ZIP code.

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 14% in Hawaii
Reading proficiency
32.9%
Bottom 14% 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 $2,063 takes 28% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 9.9 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
27.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
9.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,063
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$882,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income9.94Top 2%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate68.1%Bottom 26%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3498,024Top 20%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$148$2,063Top 7%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$29,451$882,400Top 3%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income27.9%Top 8%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate16.9%Top 33%of 33,0282024 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, 7.6 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. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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 96746 rather than 96746 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences 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. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
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 99 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Fld)JRF99 mi8,365 ft
Daniel K Inouye IntlHNL106 mi12,360 ft
Hilo IntlITO323 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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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.

96746 vs Kapaa

How this ZIP area compares with Kapaa as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

96746
Kapaa
Median household income
$88,802
vs
$89,477
Per capita income
$47,438
vs
$41,091
Population density
648/sq mi
vs
1,106/sq mi
Median home value
$882,400
vs
$861,300
Median gross rent
$2,063
vs
$2,020
Homeownership rate
68.1%
vs
69.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher
31.7%
vs
29.7%
Poverty rate
8.9%
vs
7.5%
Median age
47.7
vs
48.4

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.