Property Tax in Hawaii County, Hawaii

What the Hawaii County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of Hawaii County homeowners pay more than $1,392 a year and half pay less. The exact bill for any one home depends on its assessed value, exemptions, and which school, municipal and special districts cover it.

Set against the median home value of $486,400, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 0.29%. That rate is an estimate computed from the two medians — no county publishes a rate calculated this way — but it adjusts for home prices, which makes comparisons between counties more meaningful.

Hawaii County by the numbers

*Estimate derived from Census medians (tax ÷ value), not an official rate.

Hawaii County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Hawaii: #4 of 4 counties
• Median home value rank in Hawaii: #4 of 4
• Population rank in Hawaii: #2 of 4 (203,684 residents)
• Population density rank: #4 of 4 (51 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Hawaii: #1 of 4 (4,028 sq mi, 62.8% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $116; per $1,000 of home value: $0.29

How Hawaii County compares

Of the 4 Hawaii counties with published data, 3 have a higher median property tax bill than Hawaii County's $1,392, putting the county at #4 in the state. Its bill is about 36% lower than the state median of $2,183 and about 53% lower than the national median of $2,969.

Rates and values pull in opposite directions: an expensive housing market can produce big bills at ordinary rates. Here the derived rate is 0.29%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #4 within Hawaii.

Some extra context for Hawaii County: the median bill works out to about $116 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $286 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 203,684 people — the #2 most populous county in Hawaii, spread over 4,028 square miles, a density of about 51 people per square mile. Its median home value, $486,400, ranks #4 among the state's 4 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 1796 record a higher median tax bill than Hawaii County — it sits in the top 57% nationally. The county holds roughly 14.1% of Hawaii's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $486,400 versus $808,200), and a decade at the derived rate of 0.29% adds up to about 2.86% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Hawaii County, medians $1,392 — $0 less than Hawaii County per year.

Counties nearest Hawaii County in the Hawaii ranking

Hawaii County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Hawaii County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Hawaii County ($1,392) ranks the lowest by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Ellis County, Texas (203,927 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $4,472 on a median home value of $306,400 — $3,080 less than Hawaii County pays.

Inside Hawaii itself, the counties closest to Hawaii County in population are Honolulu County (1,003,666 residents, median tax $2,482 on a median value of $873,000); Maui County (164,632 residents, median tax $1,442 on a median value of $858,600); Kauai County (73,610 residents, median tax $1,840 on a median value of $817,900). Same state, same broad tax framework — yet the median bills still differ, because assessed values and the mix of county, municipal and school-district rates are set locally.

How the tax is worked out

As an illustration of the arithmetic: at Hawaii County's derived rate of 0.29%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $1,144 a year. That is only an illustration using the derived rate — a real bill is computed from the property's assessed value, its exemptions, and the combined rates of its specific taxing districts, so it can be higher or lower.

The usual sequence is: the local assessor values the property; exemptions are applied; the taxable value is multiplied by the combined local rates; and the county bills and collects the tax, distributing it to the schools, municipalities and districts that levied it.

Illustrative bills in Hawaii County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.29% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Hawaii County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.27% and the US figure of 0.98%:

Illustration only: real bills are computed from the assessed value, exemptions, and the combined rates of the property's actual taxing districts.

Checking your assessment in Hawaii County

Most successful appeals are won on facts, not arguments. Start with the property record card held by the Hawaii County assessor: wrong square footage, an extra room, or a missing homestead exemption are common and fixable. Next, line your assessed value up against recent sales of genuinely similar homes nearby. Many disputes end at an informal conversation with the assessor's office; if yours does not, file the formal appeal with the review board named on your notice before its deadline, evidence attached, and keep paying the bill in the meantime so penalties do not build up.

Similar-sized counties

• Maui County, HI — $1,442
• Kauai County, HI — $1,840
• Honolulu County, HI — $2,482
• Ellis County, TX — $4,472
• Deschutes County, OR — $3,670
• Muscogee County, GA — $1,526

Frequently asked questions