Puako, Hawaii.
Typical home $2,217,769 (+4.6% in a year). Hilo, HI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$7,234 (+164%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $97,785 +5%
- $2,119,983$2,217,769 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $618,078 +39%
- $1,599,691$2,217,769 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.
- Puako$11,641
- Hawaii$4,372
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Puako, HI rose 4.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Puako, Hawaii County, Hawaii
Puako, in Hawaii County, had 267 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $122,813 a year and half less, against $78,639 across Hawaii County; 12% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Puako is a very small coastal community on the Big Island, home to far fewer people than most towns and with residents who are considerably older than across the country. Incomes run well above the county's, and homes here are valued far higher than is typical, though some households still live below the poverty line. Winters are mild and summers warm, with no real cold season, almost no snow, and little rain through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, in shops, and in professional and business services. Across Hawaii County, some of the largest workplaces are Hilo Medical Center, Mauna Lani and Hilton Waikoloa Village. A typical commute is a fairly short drive.
Things to do. Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area is a beach in or beside town, and Waikoloa Beach is another a short drive away. Also a short drive off is Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site, a protected area on the coast. For a longer outing, Hulihee Palace is a museum a longer drive away.
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- 12%below the poverty line
- 25 mintypical commute
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 January, with highs near 82° and lows near 68°; warmest in August, with highs near 88° and lows near 75°. About 9 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Puukohola Heiau 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 across the county; Puako has none 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
- Volcanic activityVery high
- WildfireVery high
- EarthquakesVery high
- LightningRelatively high
- TsunamisRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Puako’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.
Puako home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Puako$2,217,769
- Hawaii$832,932
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 12 Puako 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.
- Puako8.44%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Puako36
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Puako address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Puako — 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.