Puakō, Hawaii
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1928 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the South Kohala census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96743. It lies near Kamakoa Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Puu Hinai quadrangle. 267 people lived here at the 2020 count.
Population over time
2 figuresPuakō fell from 772 to 267 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 772 | |
| 2020 | 267 | -505 (-65%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 13 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1928 USGS Puako quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Hawaii North quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Puu Hinai quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Hawaii North quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Hawaii North quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1975 USGS Hawaii quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Hawaii County Sheet 1 quadrangle1:100000
- 1982 USGS Puu Hinai quadrangle1:24000
- 1997 USGS Puu Hinai quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
121 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 121 fires within 5 miles of Puakō between 1992 and 2020, burning about 13,128 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 114 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 29 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 29 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 23 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 23 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 20 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 16 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
| 1 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | County of Hawai'i | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Puakō: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Calcium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yamada Kawaihae Coral Mill | Calcium | Past Producer | ||
| Boase Number 1 Quarry and Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Kawaihae Coral Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lahuipuaa (historical) | 2.4 miles | 13 | |
| Waikoloa Village | 2.8 miles | 13 | |
| Waikoloa | 3.5 miles | 13 | |
| Waikui | 3.6 miles | 14 | |
| Waikoloa Beach Resort | 4.3 miles | 12 | |
| Kawaihae | 4.5 miles | 14 | |
| ʻAnaehoʻomalu | 4.7 miles | 12 | |
| Kapalaoa | 5.2 miles | 12 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Puakō | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2439999 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 363460. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.








