Wailua, HI population, income and ZIP codes

Wailua CDP is a small town in Hawaii, with 2,544 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #89 of 163 ranked by population — larger than 45% of them. The median age here is 45.8 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 Wailua CDP earn a median of $68,548 a year, 12.7% below the national figure of $78,538 and 26% below 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 20.5% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in Wailua CDP is valued at $697,300, 129.8% above the national figure and 9% below the $768,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,272 a month, 61.6% above the national figure, or roughly $27,264 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 39.8% 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 10.2×, 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. 58.7% 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 10.2× 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.

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.