Ookala, Hawaii.
Typical home $588,805 (+6.5% in a year). Hilo, HI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,731 (+127%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $36,156 +7%
- $552,649$588,805 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $116,058 +25%
- $472,747$588,805 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.
- Ookala$3,090
- Hawaii$4,372
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Ookala, HI rose 6.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Ookala, Hawaii County, Hawaii
The Census does not count Ookala on its own, so the figures here are Hawaii County's. Half the county's households earn more than $78,639 a year and half less; 15% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 74% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 26% 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 people in Hawaii County work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Ookala is a small community on the Hamakua coast of the island of Hawaii, in Hawaii County. Winters are the coolest part of the year, snow is rare or absent, and rain falls often and in large amounts. Across the county, most homes are lived in by their owners, and the typical resident is in midlife.
Work. Across Hawaii County, many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, or in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Shops and professional and business services also employ a good share of people. Unemployment has edged up over the past year, while the number of jobs has barely changed.
Things to do. Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area, is a short drive away. Akaka Falls State Park, also a protected area, is a longer drive away and is one of the best known places nearby. The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, a longer drive away, is a botanical garden worth a visit.
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- 74,072households
- 44.3median age
- 31%of adults have a degree
- 15%below the poverty line
- 27 mintypical commute
- 12%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 February, with highs near 76° and lows near 61°; warmest in September, with highs near 81° and lows near 66°. About 148 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Kihalani weather station, 5 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. 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
- LightningVery high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively high
- TsunamisRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Hawaii County, 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.
Ookala home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Ookala$588,805
- Hawaii$832,932
- United States$366,157
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.
Zip codes with a Ookala address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Ookala — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zillow publishes no zip-level series with this city on the address.