Kailua (Hawaii Co.), HI population, income and ZIP codes

Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) is a mid-size town in Hawaii, with 21,851 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #14 of 163 ranked by population — larger than 91% of them. The median age here is 42.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) earn a median of $86,743 a year, 10.4% above the national figure of $78,538 and 6% below the $92,062 median for the 124 Hawaii cities we cover. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 13.4% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Kailua CDP (Hawaii County) is valued at $649,400, 114% above the national figure and 15% below the $768,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,747 a month, 24.3% above the national figure, or roughly $20,964 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 24.2% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 7.5×, 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. 66.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Home values sit at 7.5× 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.