The 10 Best Small Towns In Hawaii For 2024

You’ve seen these lists before. Best places to live in Hawaii. Best sururbs in Hawaii. Best counties in Hawaii.

Etc., etc., etc.

But they all focus on major cities and towns in the Aloha State, and no one pays attention to the little guy.

Well, that’s all about to change as we put together a list of the superb small towns in Hawaii based on numbers–not opinions or hearsay.

We’ll dive right into our methodology in the next section, but first, we thought you might want to know which places in Hawaii ranked the best based on Saturday Night Science.

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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

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The 15 Best Small Towns To Live In Hawaii For 2024

1. Heeia
2. Maunawili
3. Ko Olina
4. Princeville
5. Poipu
6. Kaaawa
7. Waikapu
8. Mahinahina
9. Eleele
10. Kalaheo
11. Puhi
12. Waimanalo Beach
13. Omao
14. Kaanapali
15. Haleiwa

What’s the best small town in Hawaii? Heeia is the best small town in Hawaii based on the most recent Census data. If you live in one of these small towns like Heeia, chances are, you’re not surprised. After all, you know how great you have it.

But for the rest of you–keep reading, and we’ll get to just why these small towns made our list.

For more reading on the Aloha State check out:

• Best Places To Live In Hawaii
• Cheapest Places To Live In Hawaii
• Worst Places To Live In Hawaii

The 15 Best Small Towns In Hawaii For 2024

1. Heeia

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 4,786
Median Income: $143,214 (3rd Best)
Median Home Value: $1,221,951 (6th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.1%

2. Maunawili

Source: Wikipedia User Zhong54 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 2,067
Median Income: $169,375 (1st Best)
Median Home Value: $1,395,740 (4th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.1%

3. Ko Olina

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 1,871
Median Income: $122,614 (6th Best)
Median Home Value: $848,538 (21st Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.0%

4. Princeville

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 2,007
Median Income: $82,250 (30th Best)
Median Home Value: $1,260,978 (5th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 5.3%

5. Poipu

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 1,085
Median Income: $134,028 (4th Best)
Median Home Value: $1,212,832 (7th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.3%

6. Kaaawa

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,259
Median Income: $130,257 (5th Best)
Median Home Value: $880,554 (19th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.9%

7. Waikapu

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 3,887
Median Income: $117,500 (10th Best)
Median Home Value: $816,081 (24th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.6%

8. Mahinahina

Overall SnackAbility

/10

Population: 1,116
Median Income: $155,278 (2nd Best)
Median Home Value: $1,173,429 (9th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.1%

9. Eleele

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 2,255
Median Income: $107,734 (14th Best)
Median Home Value: $795,367 (26th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.0%

10. Kalaheo

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 4,651
Median Income: $95,625 (18th Best)
Median Home Value: $988,710 (14th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.3%

11. Puhi

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 3,961
Median Income: $118,676 (9th Best)
Median Home Value: $611,898 (38th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.8%

12. Waimanalo Beach

Source: Wikipedia User The original uploader was Pixel23 at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 1.0

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 4,475
Median Income: $104,643 (15th Best)
Median Home Value: $835,294 (23rd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.8%

13. Omao

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 1,414
Median Income: $87,656 (24th Best)
Median Home Value: $993,995 (13th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 7.7%

14. Kaanapali

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,227
Median Income: $119,044 (8th Best)
Median Home Value: $1,706,302 (1st Best)
Unemployment Rate: 21.4%

15. Haleiwa

Source: Wikipedia User Eric Guinther | GFDL

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 4,708
Median Income: $92,173 (20th Best)
Median Home Value: $1,543,444 (3rd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.3%

Next 10 Cities

Methodology: How We Determined The Coolest Towns In Hawaii

We threw a lot of criteria at this report to get the best, most complete results of the best small towns in Hawaii possible.

Using the most recent data from the Census’s 2018-2022 American Community Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Saturday Night Science, this is the criteria we used:

• Population Density (Higher is better)
• Lowest Unemployment Rates
• Housing costs (Higher is better. More demand.)
• Adjusted Median Income (Higher is better)
• Highly Educated Adults (Higher is better)
• Insurance Rates (Higher is better)
• Commute Times (Lower is better)

We looked at places with populations lower than 5,000 people and greater than 1,000, of which there were many – 62 to be exact.

We then ranked each place in each category with scores from 1 to 62, averaged them out, and the lowest scores went to our Best Small Towns in Hawaii. Top of that list — Heeia.

This is our tenth time ranking the best small places to live in Hawaii.

Summary: Science Can Tackle Any Issue, Even Small Ones

We said it once, and we’ll say it again — this list: it’s just science. We did the research, crunched the numbers, and it turns out these 15 small towns in Hawaii are the best in which to live.

And who can argue with that?

The best small towns in Hawaii are Heeia, Maunawili, Ko Olina, Princeville, Poipu, Kaaawa, Waikapu, Mahinahina, Eleele, and Kalaheo.

If you’re curious, here are the worst small towns in Hawaii:

1. Hawaiian Ocean View
2. Hawaiian Beaches
3. Mountain View

For more Hawaii reading, check out:

Best Small Towns In Hawaii