Kaaawa, HI population, income and ZIP codes

Kaaawa CDP is a small town in Hawaii, with 1,259 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #116 of 163 ranked by population — larger than 29% of them. The median age here is 37.3 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Kaaawa CDP earn a median of $132,188 a year, 68.3% above the national figure of $78,538 and 44% above the $92,062 median for the 124 Hawaii cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 13.2% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Kaaawa CDP is valued at $966,500, 218.6% above the national figure and 26% above the $768,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,871 a month, 33.1% above the national figure, or roughly $22,452 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 17% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 7.3×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 69.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

Home values sit at 7.3× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. Median income runs above the national figure while poverty also runs above it — a split distribution, not a uniformly comfortable place. Averages hide that; the two numbers together do not.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.