Living in Hilo, HI
Small town in Hawaii
Hilo is a small town in Hawaii, home to about 48,000 people, with 103,000 living within 31 mi. Day to day, most trips are by car. Life moves at a slow, calm pace, and homes are mostly houses.
Is Hilo a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Great outdoors: coast or a lake close by
- Mild summers: highs around 83°F
- Sunny: more sunshine and clearer skies than most places
- Easy flying: KOA is 63 mi away
👎 Cons
- Quieter on culture: few museums and attractions nearby
- Smaller job market: about 103,000 people live within 31 mi
- Fewer graduates: 34% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher
- Disaster-prone: 12 federally declared disasters since 2000, mainly flooding and earthquakes
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Hilo ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Hilo: common questions
What is the cost of living in Hilo?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $562k, and a 3-bedroom rents for about $2,620 a month including utilities. Overall living costs are above the US average (index 110, where the US is 100).
What are taxes like in Hilo?
Hawaii collects about $2,274 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 0.27% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Hilo safe?
Hilo isn't in the FBI's 2019 city crime table, so Best Life Fit Me counts its safety as average.
How are the schools in Hilo?
Public schools in Hilo test close to the US average in math and reading (2018–19 state tests, put on one national scale with NAEP), with about 15 students per teacher.
What is the weather like in Hilo?
Hilo is warm all year: winter days average around 79°F and summer days around 83°F.
Does Hilo get natural disasters?
Natural disaster risk is high, mainly from flooding and earthquakes: 12 federally declared disasters have hit the county since 2000, and FEMA expects about 3.29 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Hilo?
The nearest major airport is KOA, about 63 mi away.
How Hilo scores
Each bar compares Hilo with the other 1,990 places in Best Life Fit Me. A dot shows where it sits between two ends, such as major metro and small town; neither end is better. Coloured bars run from poor (red) to excellent (green).
Places like Hilo
These places have the most similar overall profile across all 24 aspects.
The circle is each place's all-round score out of 100: the average of its 15 quality scores, from red (poor) to green (excellent).
Is Hilo right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.