WaianaeHI
This town of 12,918 people was settled in 1900.
Is Waianae a good place to live?
Waianae’s best subject grades are an A+ for walkability and an A− for the outdoors; its weakest is a D− for hazard risk. Waianae’s average trip to work is 42 minutes, above both Hawaii’s towns (28 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Only 4 of Hawaii’s 125 towns score lower on health. 24% of the land in Waianae is conserved, above both Hawaii’s towns (12%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). The biggest park or preserve is Waianae Kai Forest Reserve, at 97 acres. Waianae has no overall grade: it has no figures for safety and schools, and an overall grade needs at least three of the four big subjects (cost of living, safety, schools and health).
What makes Waianae stand out
Where Waianae beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Jobs vs. working residents
Every workday, about 1,652 people come to Waianae for work
Where Waianae’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Waianae grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Hawaii), ordered by how far Waianae is from typical.
Waianae has no overall grade: it has no figures for safety and schools, and an overall grade needs at least three of the four big subjects (cost of living, safety, schools and health).
How TownRatings grades towns →
USS Missouri and 46 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Waianae. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi MuseumUSS Missouri
16 mi MuseumUSS Arizona Memorial
17 mi Stadium & arenaAloha Stadium
27 mi MountainDiamond Head
26 mi BeachWaikīkī
17 mi MuseumUSS BowfinPhoto credits
USS Missouri: Camera Operator: EM2 KENNETH D. MEHL (Released to Public), Public domain · USS Arizona Memorial: DoD photo by: PH3(AW/SW) JAYME PASTORIC, USN, Public domain · Aloha Stadium: This photo was taken and originally uploaded by Bobak to English Wikipedia. Uplo, CC BY 3.0 · Diamond Head: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Waikīkī: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0 · USS Bowfin: Max Smith, Public domain
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Moving to Waianae: who provides what
Waianae is unincorporated, so Honolulu 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 Waianae.
With 3.1 jobs for every working resident, Waianae draws in 1,652 commuters
Half the trips to work are shorter than 23 miles. Among residents in Waianae, 16% live below the poverty line. Commuting out is the norm here: 6% of working residents work locally. Jobs in Waianae grew by 112 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 1,684.
| Waianae | Hawaii towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 4.2% | 8.2% | 11% |
| Median household income | $82,000 | $100,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.8% | 3.6% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The schools Waianae’s kids attend
Of its 5 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. The Hawaii Department of Education school district runs its public schools. The largest public high school is Kamaile Academy PCS, with 919 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leihoku Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 756 | C− |
| Kamaile Academy PCSLargest public high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 919 | D− |
NCES · EDFacts
Waianae faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
For Waianae, the FEMA risk score is 97 of 100. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2026. FEMA puts 48% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 26% to tsunamis.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Compared with most of Hawaii and the rest of the country, more of Waianae’s adults sleep under 7 hours
On the CDC’s 32 measures, Waianae is ahead of Hawaii on 1 and behind on 26. The share of adults in Waianae who get no exercise outside work: 30%. Among 93 Hawaii towns, just 4 have a higher share of adults 18 to 64 who have no health insurance than Waianae. 30% of adults in Waianae worry about having enough food; 27% say their health is fair or poor.
| Waianae | Hawaii towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 54% | 45% | 36% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 18% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 18% | 19% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Waianae | HI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.8% | 6.7% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 11.4% | 5.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Waianae’s grade for the outdoors is an A−
Across 4 parks and preserves: 4.8 miles of trail. For Waianae, the concentration of trails is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Waianae Kai Forest Reserve | — | 97 |
| 2. Waianae District Park | — | 15 |
| 3. Herbert K. Pililaau Community Park | — | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Homes in Waianae are worth about $578K, by Zillow’s estimate
Typical home values rose 3.9% in the year to September 2026. Only 6 of the 93 Hawaii towns we compare have a lower median rent than Waianae. A home in Waianae typically sold within 106 days of listing.
| Waianae | Hawaii towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,277 a month | $2,017 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 67% | 71% | 73% |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Mild winters and pleasant summers in Waianae
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 65° and snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Everything we know about Waianae
Colleges nearby
4 within 15 miles of the center of Waianae
About 3 of every 100 Waianae residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Hawaii.
Famous people from Waianae
6 notable people were born in Waianae.
About Waianae
Census-designated place in Honolulu County, Hawaii
Waiʻanae (Hawaiian pronunciation: [vɐjʔəˈnɐe̯] ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 13,614. Its name means "waters of the mullet". Its etymology is shared with the far northern Wellington suburb of Waikanae, located in New Zealand.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 7.0 sq mi
- Elevation
- 12 ft
- ZIP code
- 96792
- Area code
- 808
Waianae’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Waianae.
| Town | HI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waianae | — | — | B− | — | — | C− |
| Makaha | — | — | C | — | — | D |
| Makaha Valley | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Maili | — | — | C− | — | — | C+ |
Waianae, Makaha and Maili report no FBI crime data of their own. Waianae, Makaha, Makaha Valley and Maili aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Waianae with a neighbor →
Questions about Waianae
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Waianae, HI a good place to live?
Waianae has no overall grade: it has no figures for safety and schools, and an overall grade needs at least three of the four big subjects (cost of living, safety, schools and health).
Is Waianae, HI expensive?
That is 5.4 years of the area's median household income ($106,195 across the Urban Honolulu, HI metro area).
What is Waianae, HI known for?
6 notable people were born here, including Shinyei Nakamine and Kamalani Dung.