[4] Kamehameha Highway (Hawaii Route 99) divides most of ʻAiea from the shore of Pearl Harbor (mostly US government property), and the parallel major thoroughfare, Interstate H-1, further cuts the town's commercial district into two distinct areas.

The communities of Newtown Estates and Royal Summit are located at the western edge of ʻAiea near its border with Pearl City at Kaahumanu Street.

Residents of the census-designated places (CDP) of Waimalu and Hālawa use ʻAiea in their postal address.

[7] In July 1941, five months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Thomas C Latimore from USS Dobbin, vanished while walking in the hills above ʻAiea.

Within the U.S. Navy, many believed he might have been abducted and killed by a local Hawaiian Japanese spy ring because he had either stumbled upon their activities in the hills or had been specifically targeted because of his background in Naval Intelligence.

[8] On December 7, 1941, a large part of the Japanese attack focused on the military installations around the town and the ships moored off shore.

For example, one damaged ship, USS Vestal, beached in ʻAiea Bay to prevent sinking.

Then in 1998, the 99-year-old sugar mill was torn down by the owners, amid protests from town residents and the County government.

Aloha Stadium, formerly home of the University of Hawaiʻi Warriors football team, and the host site for the Hawaiʻi Bowl every Christmas Eve and the National Football League's Pro Bowl every February (except in 2009), was located in the adjacent Halawa CDP.

[12] The Hawaii Department of Public Safety operates the Halawa Correctional Facility in an area near ʻAiea.

[13][14] Camp H. M. Smith, headquarters of the United States Pacific Command, is located in ʻAiea.