Kawela Bay, HI population, income and ZIP codes

Kawela Bay CDP is a very small community in Hawaii, with 371 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #144 of 163 ranked by population — larger than 11% of them. The median age here is 45.7 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. 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 Kawela Bay CDP earn a median of $76,094 a year, 3.1% below the national figure of $78,538 and 17% 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 7.5% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Kawela Bay CDP is valued at $848,400, 179.6% above the national figure and 10% above the $768,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,609 a month, 85.6% above the national figure, or roughly $31,308 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 41.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is severely stretched — a median-income renter clears the cost-burden line by a wide margin before utilities beyond the gross-rent definition. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 11.1×, 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. 77.7% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Home values sit at 11.1× 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. With 371 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Kawela Bay CDP against its county rather than against national figures.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. 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.