Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Hilo's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Hilo?
Your $100,000 in Hilo has the same purchasing power as $103,252 in the average US city. You'd need $3,252 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Hilo's cost index of 97, sorted by closest match.
If you're weighing a move to Hilo, the short answer is that the city has a few genuine arguments going for it — most obviously paychecks come in above the us average and the air is clean, not just clean-ish, plus 1 more things worth knowing. Here's the longer version.
Median household income in Hilo is $75,589, a step above the national median of about $75k. The local job market leans toward industries that pay better than average, and that shows up in the take-home for most working households here.
Hilo's air quality index averages about 16 — comfortably in the EPA's "good" range. No daily ritual of checking the AQI before going for a run, no smoky-day plans, no surprise asthma flare-ups for the kids. The kind of background condition you notice mostly by its absence.
The average one-way commute in Hilo is about 20 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
Reasons are pulled from Hilo's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Hilo sits at about 295 feet (90 m) above sea level — low-lying, but with enough cushion that day-to-day life isn't affected by ocean levels.
Roughly average. Hilo's cost-of-living index is 97, putting it in the band where rent, groceries, and utilities track the national norm. Not a bargain, not a premium.
Not really — Hilo is built around the car. Its Walk Score of 17 out of 100 means almost every errand is a drive. Living without a car is technically possible but real work; most residents wouldn't try it.
Roughly $67,795 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Hilo runs about $1,228/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.