Lihue, HI population, income and ZIP codes

Lihue CDP is a mid-size town in Hawaii, with 7,847 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #42 of 163 ranked by population — larger than 74% of them. The median age here is 43.1 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 Lihue CDP earn a median of $77,420 a year, 1.4% below the national figure of $78,538 and 16% 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 6.3% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Lihue CDP is valued at $843,900, 178.1% above the national figure and 10% above the $768,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,989 a month, 41.5% above the national figure, or roughly $23,868 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 30.8% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is a stretch on median earnings. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 10.9×, 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. 62.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. 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 10.9× 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.

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.