What salary do you need to live in Kahului, HI?

What housing costs in Kahului

A one-bedroom in Kahului rents for a median of $1,330 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $2,018 and a three-bedroom for $2,364. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $24,216.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $904,700. Set against the $97,109 median household income, that is a ratio of 9.3×, which keeps the buying part of the score low for most incomes.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Kahului's overall prices at 109.4 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $91,414 would elsewhere.

How much you need to earn in Kahului

For two bedrooms, $458,000 is where Kahului turns Comfortable. Below that, $227,000 marks the start of Okay and $113,000 the start of Tight; under $113,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 5% of gross pay.

Royal is out of reach at any income here. The price-level part of the score is fixed by the metro's parity of 109.4, so even when rent and home prices become tiny next to income the total tops out at 84, short of the 85 the top band needs.

Each figure is the lowest income, to the next $1,000, at which the calculator itself would show that grade for a two-bedroom in Kahului.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Kahului

Choosing a bigger place in Kahului at $75,000 trims the score from 20 to 11 without leaving Stretched.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Tight, with rent taking 16% of income.

Kahului on the national list

Ranked against all 387 metros, Kahului sits 13th on overall price level and 17th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 4th.

Next to Kahului on the national rent ranking: San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA ($2,052) and Boulder, CO ($2,008).

Kahului in a Hawaii context

How Kahului stacks up against its state: $2,018 for a two-bedroom against Hawaii's $1,996, $904,700 for the median home against $839,100, and a price level of 109.4 against 110.0.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $445,000 — below Kahului's $458,000 line.

Hawaii has only one other metro in the data, Urban Honolulu, HI, so the closest matches elsewhere, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV and San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA, are included too.

The median Kahului household

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $97,109, which grades Stretched (21) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $360,891 more than the median household earns. For Hawaii as a whole, the median household income of $100,389 scores 22 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

All figures are pre-tax estimates from public data, not financial advice.