{"id":563282,"date":"2026-02-03T12:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T12:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/563282\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T12:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T12:38:12","slug":"high-costs-weak-growth-driving-hawaii-residents-away-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/563282\/","title":{"rendered":"High costs, weak growth driving Hawaii residents away, report says"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii has lost more residents than it has gained for 23 of the past 25 years, according to a new report from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization.<\/a> <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trend driven not just by high costs, but by an economy that has failed to keep pace with the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

Many residents say they are feeling the strain firsthand, with rising prices and slow wage growth making it harder to get by.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s super expensive,\u201d said Honolulu resident Melissa Ton. \u201cGroceries in Hawaii are really expensive. You factor in the cost of living compared to other places, it\u2019s really high.\u201d<\/p>\n

UHERO\u2019s report finds that while Hawaii\u2019s high cost of living is well known, the deeper issue is weak economic performance.<\/p>\n

Steven Bond-Smith, lead author of the report, said the state is increasingly losing working families while attracting newcomers who can afford to move.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re losing hardworking Hawaii families and getting people who are coming here basically for the lifestyle,\u201d Bond-Smith said.<\/p>\n

Hawaii\u2019s population peaked in 2018 and has declined nearly every year since, driven largely by residents relocating to the mainland<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Bond-Smith said those who work the hardest often face the greatest difficulty staying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people that are working really hard, they\u2019re the ones who find it toughest to live in Hawaii,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For residents, the pressure shows up in everyday expenses. <\/p>\n

Honolulu resident Tylan Rogers said making ends meet feels nearly impossible, especially for families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how people come out here and try and make ends meet,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how people do it with a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others point to the cost of basic necessities. Ren Brown said a recent grocery run for household essentials totaled $330.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not anything crazy,\u201d Brown said. \u201cJust random stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Economists say Hawaii\u2019s high prices are tied to expensive land, labor and production costs, particularly for food. <\/p>\n

Bond-Smith said those factors make affordability a long-standing challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cLand is relatively expensive, and the cost of labor is relatively expensive,\u201d Bond-Smith said. \u201cYou kind of have to pay people more because it\u2019s so expensive to live in Hawaii.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Bond-Smith said lowering costs alone will not solve the problem. The report finds that even if affordability improves, slow income growth means residents would face the same pressures again unless productivity and wages rise.<\/p>\n

UHERO adjusted state average incomes for the local cost of living, and compared Hawaii with all other states. The result: Hawaii ranked near the bottom, around the same level as Alabama, West Virginia, and Mississippi.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are being priced out of paradise by the cost of living, but they already were,\u201d Bond-Smith said. \u201cThe change is the long-run trajectory. Hawaii is increasingly being left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

UHERO says without stronger economic growth, the state risks continued population losses raising long-term questions about who can afford to build a future in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii has lost more residents than it has gained for 23 of the past 25…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":563283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[8161,64,8162,79,22182,17353,421,7065,619,22025,1165,43846,135386,67,132,135387,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-563282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-affordability","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cost-of-living","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-expensive","13":"tag-high","14":"tag-homes","15":"tag-housing","16":"tag-income","17":"tag-land","18":"tag-lifestyle","19":"tag-relocate","20":"tag-uhero","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-university-of-hawaii-economic-research-organization","24":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116006742798303165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563282","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=563282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}