Local costs · Hawaii
What a home costs across Hawaii
Property-tax rates, insurance, and closing costs vary widely by county. Below are the state-wide rules that apply everywhere in Hawaii, then every county with its own tax rate and insurance range.
Statewide facts
- Home insurance average
- About $1,431 per year for a standard HO-3 policy (NAIC 2022 state average). Individual counties run above or below this based on local hazard risk — see the table below.
- Transfer & recording tax
- Hawaii conveyance tax: graduated by price (tiered) — seller customarily paysRates shown are the owner-occupant schedule (buyer claims the county homeowner exemption); non-owner-occupant rates run 0.15%-1.25%.On the $875,900 state median home, the buyer’s customary share is about $0; the seller customarily covers about $1,152.
- Title insurance
- Hawaii uses competitive (filed) rates. Rates are competitive rather than state-set, so we model title and settlement from a national declining-rate curve calibrated to published costs.
- State income tax
- Hawaii income tax is modeled at about 4.57% effective for a married household at $100,000 (6.07% filing single). These are modeled effective rates from Tax Foundation 2026 brackets.
All 4 counties in Hawaii
Effective property-tax rate (Census ACS) and a typical annual insurance range at the state median home value. Select a county for the full breakdown.
| County | Property tax | Insurance / yr |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii County | 0.28% | $1,300–$2,900typical $2,000 |
| Honolulu County | 0.28% | $880–$1,960typical $1,350 |
| Kauai County | 0.21% | $920–$2,040typical $1,410 |
| Maui County | 0.16% | $760–$1,700typical $1,170 |
* Property-tax rate is approximate because the county’s Census median is top-coded.
How these numbers are built
Every figure comes from public data or our own math: Census ACS property taxes, NAIC insurance averages scaled by FEMA risk, and researched transfer-tax and title schedules.
Estimates, not advice. See the methodology for sources, vintages, and the honest gaps.