Kaaawa is a very small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Hawaii. With a population of 1,421 people and just one neighborhood, Kaaawa is the 53rd largest community in Hawaii.
Housing costs in Kaaawa are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Hawaii.
Kaaawa is a military town: the armed forces employs 18.49% of the workforce, making the military a major focus of life in the city. In the civilian sector, Healthcare and Construction are important in the local economy and are the town’s largest civilian employers, employing 22.96% and 16.84% of the civilian workforce respectively.
And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Kaaawa has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.
Of important note, Kaaawa is also a town of artists. Kaaawa has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Kaaawa’s character.
Also of interest is that Kaaawa has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
Kaaawa is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.
One downside of living in Kaaawa is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Kaaawa, the average commute to work is 41.02 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the town, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.
Despite being a small town, Kaaawa has a lot of people using the bus to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the bus are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.
Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Kaaawa, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Kaaawa is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 54.82% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.
The per capita income in Kaaawa in 2022 was $54,775, which is wealthy relative to Hawaii and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $219,100 for a family of four. However, Kaaawa contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Kaaawa is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Kaaawa home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Kaaawa residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Kaaawa also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.52% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Kaaawa include Irish, English, Polish, German, and Russian.
The most common language spoken in Kaaawa is English. Other important languages spoken here include Pacific Island languages and Portuguese.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
The neighborhood stands out nationally for having a greater proportion of its residents active in the military than 99.6% of other U.S. neighborhoods. If you come here, you will notice military people active in their jobs, going to and from work, and in plain clothes out and about the neighborhood.
Priests and therapists would like to think they know the secrets to a truly successful marriage, but according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the folks of the neighborhood may actually hold the key. 72.0% of its residents are married, which is a higher percentage than is found in 97.7% of the neighborhoods in America.
In addition, if you're planning where to retire, the neighborhood in Kaaawa is a great option to consider. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive retirement dream area analysis, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety ratings compared to other neighborhoods in HI, offers a wide range of housing options, and has already attracted an enviable mix of college educated seniors. This neighborhood ranks as better for retirement living than 87.6% of the neighborhoods in Hawaii. If you are considering retiring to Hawaii, this is a good neighborhood to look at.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 11.5% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.0% of all neighborhoods in America.
More people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 96.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Ukrainian and Portuguese ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Ukrainian ancestry and 4.0% have Portuguese ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 0.6% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Japanese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.5% of the neighborhoods in America.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Kaaawa are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 80.2% of the neighborhoods in America. With 26.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 78.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 53.5% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 17.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in the military (16.7%), and 14.9% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 86.0% of households.
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the neighborhood in Kaaawa, HI, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (17.8%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (15.2%), and residents who report Polish roots (10.6%), and some of the residents are also of Asian ancestry (7.5%), along with some German ancestry residents (5.7%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (40.0% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods. However, there is also a significant group of residents (11.5%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (75.7%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (12.2%) and 5.2% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.