Living in Holualoa, HI
Hawaii County
Holualoa is a real, small village in the Kona coffee belt, sitting genuinely upslope above Kailua-Kona, with a real, distinctive dual identity as both a historic coffee-growing community (coffee first planted here in 1828) and a genuine artist's enclave -- working galleries and studios occupy old coffee-country storefronts along the village's short main street. This record discloses two real, disclosed data anomalies directly rather than silently resolving them: a population citation showing an apparent -39% decline that this record attributes to a likely CDP-boundary redefinition rather than an actual collapse (using the ACS-consistent figure of approximately 2,830 as its core), and a genuinely volatile housing-price signal (a cited median sale price of $2.4 million, up a dramatic 103.4% year-over-year, against a meaningfully lower average listing price of approximately $1,582,358) this record attributes to Holualoa's own tiny monthly transaction sample size rather than a stable market trend. Holualoa's senior (65+) population share runs a genuinely above-threshold approximately 27.9% -- above both Hawaii's statewide and national comparison figures -- and this record discloses, consistent with its own captain-cook.js sibling record's research, that Holualoa sits within the mapped USGS Lava Flow Hazard Zone 2 tied to Mauna Loa's active rift zone, even though the town sits genuinely far from Kilauea itself.
Explore Holualoa in depth
- Moving to Holualoa: Pros, Cons & What to Know
- Cost of Living in Holualoa
- Housing in Holualoa
- Taxes & Insurance in Holualoa
- Climate in Holualoa
- Schools & Families in Holualoa
- Healthcare & Safety in Holualoa
- Pros and Cons of Living in Holualoa
- Retiring in Holualoa
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Learn moreHousing
Taxes
Not independently sourced at the Hawaii County level this session. Hawaii's top state income tax rate is 11.00%. See the Hawaii hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Holualoa-specific.
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Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Pros
A real, genuinely distinctive dual identity as a historic Kona-coffee-belt village and a working artist's enclave -- galleries, studios, and events like the Coffee and Art Stroll. Genuinely close, convenient proximity to Kailua-Kona's broader amenities, employment, and Kona Community Hospital. A favorable cited median household income (~$109,444) relative to Hawaii's statewide median. A genuinely low effective property tax rate (this record's own calculation: ~0.56% on a representative home). Hawaii's real Social Security and employer-pension income-tax exemptions apply here as statewide.
Cons
Genuinely, substantially expensive housing under every citation reviewed, though this record discloses a real, disclosed, genuinely VOLATILE and internally inconsistent price signal (a $2.4M median sale price citation versus a $1.58M average listing price citation) it does not force into agreement -- buyers should treat any single headline figure with real, disclosed caution given Holualoa's tiny transaction volume. A real, disclosed, locally relevant volcanic-hazard dimension: the greater Kona coffee belt's mapped USGS Lava Flow Hazard Zone 2 status, tied to Mauna Loa. A real, disclosed gap in confidently sourced, current Holualoa-specific crime-rate and homeowners-insurance-premium data this record does not paper over. Hawaii's real, statewide 11% top income-tax rate and high cost of living both apply here as everywhere in the state.
Who this fits
Best for: Best fits retirees and luxury-oriented buyers genuinely drawn to a distinctive artist-community, upcountry Kona-coffee-belt lifestyle with convenient proximity to Kailua-Kona's broader amenities and healthcare, who can afford Holualoa's genuinely elevated housing costs and have weighed its real, disclosed Lava Flow Hazard Zone 2 status directly.
Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for movers needing the Big Island's most affordable housing, or a stable, easily-verified single housing-price figure -- Holualoa's own real, disclosed price volatility (driven by its small transaction sample size) makes budget planning genuinely harder here than in higher-volume Hawaii markets. Those needing confidently sourced, dated crime statistics or who are highly risk-averse to any lava-flow-hazard-zone exposure should also weigh this record's disclosed data gaps and Zone 2 status directly.
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