Key takeaway: Kapaʻa and Wailua, on Kauaʻi’s east side, have the island’s lowest district home prices: a median single-family sale of $940,000 in the first quarter of 2026. HUD’s one-bedroom benchmark for ZIP 96746 is $1,720 a month. The cost you pay in time is the commute: 27 minutes on average, 10 minutes longer than Līhuʻe, on a single congested highway. Numbers checked October 31, 2026.
Kapaʻa–Wailua is Kauaʻi’s most populated area and its least expensive district to buy a house in, but almost everyone drives the same two-lane Kūhiō Highway to work. ZIP 96746, which covers Kapaʻa, Wailua, Wailua Homesteads and Kapahi, has 19,329 residents (ACS 2020–2024).
How much is rent in Kapaʻa?
| Measure | 1 bedroom | 2 bedrooms | 3 bedrooms | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HUD Small Area FMR, ZIP 96746 | $1,720 | $2,260 | $2,780 | FY2027 (from Oct 1, 2026) |
| Zumper average asking rent | $2,800 | $4,999 | $6,000 | Sep 17, 2026 |
HUD figures: HUD Small Area Fair Market Rents, FY2027 (effective Oct 1, 2026), as republished by FairMarketRentMap; HUD’s summary pages show only county figures for the neighbor islands. These are 40th-percentile rents including utilities, a voucher benchmark rather than an asking price. Zumper’s figures come from a small, volatile sample that likely includes furnished units; its 1BR average fell 33% in 30 days.
Treat listing averages in Kapaʻa with caution: the town has many furnished and vacation-style rentals, which pull asking rents far above what long-term tenants typically pay. The HUD benchmark is closer to a typical long-term lease.
What do homes cost in Kapaʻa?
The median single-family sale in the Kawaihau district (Kapaʻa, Wailua and Anahola) was $940,000 for January–March 2026 on 21 sales, the lowest of Kauaʻi’s districts; the median condo was $752,000 on 4 sales (Kauaʻi Board of REALTORS via Fidelity National Title). Monthly Kapaʻa medians since then have run from $1.06 million to $1.21 million on 6 to 10 sales; September’s $1,062,000 was down 34% from a year earlier (Island Properties, Hawaiʻi Information Service data).
What do Kapaʻa households earn?
The median household income is $89,477 (±$13,477) in the Kapaʻa census-designated place and $88,802 for ZIP 96746 (ACS 2020–2024).
How bad is the Kapaʻa commute?
Kapaʻa workers average 26.7 minutes one way, against 16.9 minutes in Līhuʻe (ACS 2020–2024). Nearly all traffic between the east side and Līhuʻe uses Kūhiō Highway, and the “Kapaʻa crawl” can add up to an hour at peak times by one news estimate; a bypass is at least 10 years away (Beat of Hawaii, 2023). The Kauaʻi Bus runs along Kūhiō Highway on the Hanalei–Līhuʻe routes for $2 a ride (County of Kauaʻi).
What costs are specific to Kapaʻa?
- Vacation rentals compete for housing. Kauaʻi allows transient vacation rentals only inside Visitor Destination Areas, which include parts of Kapaʻa, or with a permit issued before 2009 (Hawaiʻi Life, Nov 2024). That keeps some units off the long-term market.
- Hurricane Lowell. Lowell passed Kauaʻi overnight September 7–8, 2026; at its peak, KIUC reported 33,000 of its 36,000 members without power (Civil Beat), and the governor put initial damage above $400 million (Hawaii News Now). KIUC has asked regulators for permission to defer and later recover its storm costs, so a future rate effect is possible (Kauaʻi Now). Listing rents from September and October 2026 may be distorted by the storm. KIUC crews were still replacing damaged poles along Kūhiō Highway near Kapaʻa in late September (Kauaʻi Now).
- Gas and errands. The longer drives add up at Kauaʻi gas prices. See gas prices by island.
How does Kapaʻa compare with other towns on Kauaʻi?
| Town | 1BR rent, HUD benchmark | Median single-family sale | Mean commute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Līhuʻe (96766) | $1,740 | $1.15 million (Līhuʻe district, 6 sales) | 17 min |
| Kapaʻa–Wailua (96746) | $1,720 | $940,000 (Kawaihau district, 21 sales) | 27 min |
| North Shore: Princeville (96722) | $2,420 | $2.63 million (Hanalei district, 21 sales) | 16 min |
Rent: HUD Small Area Fair Market Rents, FY2027 (effective Oct 1, 2026), as republished by FairMarketRentMap; HUD’s summary pages show only county figures for the neighbor islands. These are 40th-percentile rents including utilities, a voucher benchmark rather than an asking price. Sales: Kauaʻi Board of REALTORS district medians for January–March 2026, via Fidelity National Title. Commute: American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, via Census Reporter (census-designated place).
More: Kauaʻi cost of living · compare the islands · salary calculator.
Sources
- FairMarketRentMap: HUD FY2027 SAFMR, ZIP 96746
- Zumper: Kapaʻa rent research
- Kauaʻi Board of REALTORS Q1 2026 statistics (Fidelity National Title)
- Island Properties: Kauaʻi market report, September 2026
- Census Reporter: Kapaʻa CDP (ACS 2020–2024)
- Census Reporter: ZIP 96746 (ACS 2020–2024)
- Beat of Hawaii: Kauaʻi traffic (2023)
- County of Kauaʻi: bus schedules
- Hawaiʻi Life: TVRs on Kauaʻi (Nov 2024)
- Civil Beat: Hurricane Lowell (Sep 2026)
- Hawaii News Now: Lowell damage estimate (Sep 2026)
- Kauaʻi Now: Lowell recovery