Honokaa, Hawaii.
Typical home $660,035 (+2.9% in a year). Hilo, HI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,850 (+115%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $18,290 +3%
- $641,744$660,035 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $102,232 +18%
- $557,803$660,035 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.
- Honokaa$3,464
- Hawaii$4,372
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 21 years.
Typical home values in Honokaa, HI rose 2.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Honokaa, Hawaii County, Hawaii
Honokaa, in Hawaii County, had 2,699 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $87,019 a year and half less, against $78,639 across Hawaii County; 6% of its people live below the poverty line. 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 people in Hawaii County 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Honokaa is a small community on the Hamakua side of the Big Island, where households earn more than the typical household across Hawaii County and fewer people live below the poverty line than one might expect for a rural town. Homes here are valued well above what most of the country pays. Fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in many places, and the climate is mild all year, with the coldest month only slightly cooler than the warmest, no real snow, and plenty of rain.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by restaurants, hotels and entertainment, shops, and professional and business services. Across Hawaii County, some of the biggest employers are Hilo Medical Center, Mauna Lani and Hilton Waikoloa Village. Commutes tend to be long, and almost no one works from home, so most people travel to a job each day.
Things to do. Hiʻilawe Falls, a waterfall, and Kalopa State Recreation Area, a botanical garden, are both a short drive away. Akaka Falls State Park, a protected area, is a longer drive, as is Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area for a day by the water.
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- 522households
- 19%of adults have a degree
- 6%below the poverty line
- 33 mintypical commute
- 0%work from home
What people in Hawaii County 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 March, with highs near 77° and lows near 56°; warmest in August, with highs near 83° and lows near 65°. About 90 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Paauilo weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Hawaii County
- Hilo Medical CenterGeneral hospital1,239FTE
- Mauna LaniHotel resort noncasino671
- Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc.Hotels641
- HPM Building SupplyHome centers, building materials559
- University of Hawaii at HiloUniversity or college556
- WalmartDiscount department stores540
- TargetDiscount department stores466
- Kona Community HospitalGeneral hospital454FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 152 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 15,198 people in all across the county; Honokaa has one of its own. 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
- Inland floodingVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Volcanic activityRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Honokaa’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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.
Honokaa home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Honokaa$660,035
- 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 5 Honokaa listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
- Honokaa20.17%
- United States25.56%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Honokaa19
Zip codes with a Honokaa address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Honokaa — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zip codes in Honokaa
| Zip activate to sort by Zip | Place activate to sort by Place | Population sorted descending, activate to sort ascending | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 96727 | Honokaa | 4,577 | — | $655,230 |
| 96776 | Paauilo | 1,355 | — | $555,116 |