PapaikouHI
The town, settled in 1900, counts 1,332 residents.
Is Papaikou a good place to live?
The best of Papaikou’s subject grades is a B+ for health; the weakest is a D− for hazard risk. Papaikou’s January low is 64°F, close to Hawaii’s towns (64°F) and above U.S. towns (22°F). Among 94 Hawaii towns, just 5 have a lower share of children under 18 than Papaikou. Papaikou has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
1,332 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
How Papaikou grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Hawaii), ordered by how far Papaikou is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Mauna Kea and 15 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Papaikou. Close and well known come first.
Big draw25 mi MountainMauna Kea
Big draw29 mi MountainKīlauea
Big draw39 mi MountainMauna Loa
27 mi National ParkHawai'i Volcanoes National Park1.9M visitors a year
5 mi WaterfallRainbow Falls
6 mi State parkAkaka Falls State ParkPhoto credits
Mauna Kea: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kīlauea: Hawaii Land Cover Analysis project, NOAA Coastal Services Center, Public domain · Mauna Loa: Gordon Joly, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park: Jos-uit-boston at Dutch Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rainbow Falls: Kyle Hawton, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Akaka Falls State Park: Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0
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Moving to Papaikou: who provides what
Papaikou is unincorporated, so Hawaii County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Papaikou.
Very high risk in Papaikou, with inland flooding at the top
The natural-hazard score from FEMA for Papaikou comes to 100 of 100. FEMA puts two thirds of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 28% to earthquakes. Households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2018.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The schools Papaikou’s kids attend
The Hawaii Department of Education school district runs its public schools. Its one school is below. Papaikou’s only public school teaches 183 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Jonah Kalanianaole Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 183 | D |
NCES · EDFacts
Most of Papaikou’s workers head elsewhere: there are 0.5 jobs for each of them
Papaikou’s median household income is $79,000. Commuting out is the norm here: 1% of working residents work locally. Since 2013, Papaikou has added 32 jobs, to 84 in 2023. The top destinations are Hilo (38%), Urban Honolulu (12%) and Kailua (5%).
| Papaikou | Hawaii towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 0.6% | 3.7% | 8% |
| Median household income | $79,000 | $100,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 9.7% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
A typical Papaikou home is worth about $596K
The median rent in Papaikou is $1,495 a month. Home values are up 2.8% over the year to September 2026.
| Papaikou | Hawaii towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,495 a month | $2,015 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 71% | 71% | 73% |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Papaikou ranks healthier than seven in ten of the country’s towns
Among adults in Papaikou, 17% have been diagnosed with depression. Of 32 CDC measures, Papaikou beats the Hawaii average on 1 and trails it on 7. 14% of adults in Papaikou report frequent mental distress; 39% sleep under 7 hours.
| Papaikou | Hawaii towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 27% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 45% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 17% | 23% |
| What stands out | Papaikou | HI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults sleeping under 7 hours | 39% | 45.7% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.3% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The climate in Papaikou brings mild winters and pleasant summers
For Papaikou, the July high is 83°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Conserved land covers 2% of Papaikou
1.4 miles of trail. Papaikou’s trail network density stands at 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Papaikou | Hawaii towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2% | 12% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.6 | 0.4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Papaikou
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Papaikou
About 6 of every 100 Papaikou residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Hawaii.
Papaikou has shrunk 11% from 2010 to 2020
1,314 counted in 2010 and 1,166 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
About Papaikou
Census-designated place in Hawaii, U.S.
Pāpaʻikou is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, and is a few miles north of the county seat, Hilo. The population of Pāpaʻikou was 1,166 at the 2020 census, down from 1,431 at the 2000 census. Pāpaʻikou was the home of the Onomea Sugar Company. Notable people from Pāpaʻikou include William Whitmore Goodale Moir.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 1.9 sq mi
- Elevation
- 236 ft
- ZIP code
- 96781
- Area code
- 808
Questions about Papaikou
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Papaikou, HI expensive?
That is 7.6 years of the area's median household income ($78,639 across the Hilo-Kailua, HI area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
What is Papaikou, HI known for?
2 notable people were born here, including Sueko Matsueda Kimura and Clift Tsuji.