Pupukea, HI population, income and ZIP codes

Pupukea CDP is a small town in Hawaii, with 4,853 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #59 of 163 ranked by population — larger than 64% of them. The median age here is 40.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older 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 Pupukea CDP earn a median of $98,771 a year, 25.8% above the national figure of $78,538 and 7% above the $92,062 median for the 124 Hawaii cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 14.1% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Pupukea CDP is valued at $1,331,800, 339% above the national figure and 73% above the $768,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,991 a month, 41.6% above the national figure, or roughly $23,892 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 13.5×, 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. 56.7% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. 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 13.5× 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.

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.