{"id":219728,"date":"2025-09-12T02:29:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T02:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/219728\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T02:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T02:29:14","slug":"5-reasons-retirees-are-leaving-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/219728\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Retirees Are Leaving Hawaii"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hawaii is the dream retirement destination<\/a> for many people, majorly because of the warm weather year-round and stunning scenery. But as attractive as the islands may seem, many retirees who once planned to spend their golden years here are now making the difficult decision to leave.<\/p>\n

GOBankingRates spoke to Corinne Smith, a real estate agent who was born and raised in Hawaii and is the founder of Legacy Homes<\/a>, who shared common reasons many retirees are leaving the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n

High Cost of Living<\/p>\n

Hawaii\u2019s cost of living is among the highest in the country. For retirees on a fixed income<\/a>, stretching dollars in Hawaii is much harder than in other states. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHawaii is very expensive. The cost of living is high, and food is imported if not grown, which makes it expensive,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n

Rising Home Prices and Scarcity<\/p>\n

Housing affordability is another major challenge. Hawaii\u2019s real estate market<\/a> is known for limited supply, which pushes prices higher year after year. Even retirees who purchased property years ago are finding it difficult to downsize. <\/p>\n

\u201cHome prices continue to rise and will always rise because of scarcity, making affordability a big issue,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you live in a care home, it is extremely expensive to maintain.\u201d<\/p>\n

High Taxes\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hawaii also carries one of the highest state income tax<\/a> rates in the nation. \u201cTaxes are one of the highest in the world with the highest income state tax and no true Social Security benefits,\u201d Smith added. <\/p>\n

While Social Security income is exempt from state taxes, the lack of broader benefits and steep tax rates makes it harder for retirees to stretch their savings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Challenge of Distance and Travel<\/p>\n

Additionally, Hawaii\u2019s remote location can make retirees feel cut off from family and friends. Flight costs<\/a> to visit mainland family members can easily run thousands of dollars and often require multiple connections, which can be exhausting for retirees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Hawaii being so remote, prices to travel to and from Hawaii are extremely expensive and that\u2019s just for the flights,\u201d she said. \u201cYou will likely need to catch several planes until you reach your destination [\u2026] just to visit family.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ehabaref \/ iStock.com Commitment to Our Readers GOBankingRates’ editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":219729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,8726,255,615,700,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-219728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-gobankingrates","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-planning","12":"tag-retirement","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115188974725413297","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}