Hilo, Hawaii.
Typical home $562,242 (+5.4% in a year), asking rent $2,129 . Hilo, HI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,599 (+118%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $28,885 +5%
- $533,357$562,242 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $128,338 +30%
- $433,904$562,242 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Hilo$2,951
- Hawaii$4,372
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Hilo, HI rose 5.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Hilo, Hawaii County, Hawaii
Hilo, in Hawaii County, had 44,186 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $81,779 a year and half less, against $78,639 across Hawaii County; 14% of its people live below the poverty line. 66% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 34% are rented. Unemployment in Hawaii County was 3.4% in August 2026, and the county had 0.2% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Hilo is the main town on the east side of Hawaii's Big Island, and it is home to a mix of ages, with a typical resident somewhat older than the average American. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though a good number of households rent. Household incomes run a little above the county's, and homes here are costly to buy or rent. Winters are barely different from summers, with the coldest month still warm, and the town gets far more rain than most of the country.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, with shops and government close behind. Among the biggest workplaces in Hilo are Hilo Medical Center, the University of Hawaii at Hilo and Walmart. Commutes are short, and unemployment is a little higher than it was a year ago.
Things to do. Rainbow Falls is a waterfall in or beside town, and Liliuokalani Park and Gardens offers a garden setting close by as well. A short drive away, Richardson Beach is a place to get to the water. For a longer outing, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is a national park a longer drive away.
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- 17,750households
- 35%of adults have a degree
- 14%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 9%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Hawaii County had 74,168 jobs in 2025, 0.2% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in February, with highs near 78° and lows near 64°; warmest in September, with highs near 83° and lows near 70°. About 120 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Hilo International Airport weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Hilo
- Hilo Medical CenterGeneral hospital1,239FTE
- University of Hawaii at HiloUniversity or college556
- WalmartDiscount department stores540
- TargetDiscount department stores466
- Life Care Center of HiloSkilled nursing facilities289
- Hawaii Community CollegeTwo-year college246
- KTA Super Stores - PuainakoSupermarkets209
- Hawaii Electric Light CompanyElectric power generation, fossil fuel208
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 55 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 6,223 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Volcanic activityVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- EarthquakesVery high
- LightningVery high
- TsunamisRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Hilo’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Hawaii County and the Hilo, HI metro.
Hilo home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Hilo$562,242
- Hawaii$832,932
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Hilo listings, and the typical home goes pending in 30 days — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Hilo24.94%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Hilo30
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Hilo140
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Hilo31
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Hilo$511,806
- United States$371,553
Zip codes with a Hilo address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Hilo — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.