Kapaa, HI
Metro Area Profile
73,731 residents. Jobs, income, development, climate and physical risk across the Kapaa, HI metropolitan area.
Missing required signal: opportunity. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.
Residential permitting has slowed: 119 units authorized over the past twelve months, 18% below the prior year.
Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 8.9 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 23% of it.
Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, tsunami and wildfire.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Household income is higher than at least 96% of measured US metros.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$5,401 | $97,668 | Top 4% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$1,840 | $43,836 | Top 16% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 9.1% | Bottom 10% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 24.8 min | Top 43% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 30.1% | Top 33% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Labor force participation | 64.3% | Top 23% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $1,870 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 8.9 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 | 8.94 | Top 1% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 68.6% | Bottom 43% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±61 | 30,471 | Bottom 44% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$78 | $1,870 | Top 3% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$15,373 | $873,200 | Top 1% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 23.0% | Top 8% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 22.4% | Top 9% | 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 →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 73,840 in 2024.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 1.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US metros.
Weather & climate
11 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 65°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 17.8 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 17.8" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall | 0.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 65°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 87°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 11 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 8°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, tsunami and wildfire.
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. This value is the population-weighted mean of all component counties; expected annual loss is their sum. 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.
- 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
No airport meeting the AreaProfile major-airport definition lies within 100 miles; the nearest is 116 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Fld) | JRF | 116 mi | 8,365 ft |
| Daniel K Inouye Intl | HNL | 124 mi | 12,360 ft |
| Hilo Intl | ITO | 340 mi | 9,803 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 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) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
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.