Hawai‘i’s low income residents face the highest cost of living in the nation, including the highest cost of housing.
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Housing Costs in Hawaii
- Hawaii’s rents exceed the national average by 50%, with about 75% of households in poverty spending more than half of their income on rent.
- Hawai‘i’s housing costs are the highest among the states, while Honolulu is the most expensive metropolitan area for housing.
- A minimum wage worker would have to work 177 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, to afford a two bedroom apartment at market rent. The “housing wage”—what a worker would need to earn hourly to afford a two bedroom apartment at fair market rent—is $32.14. Meanwhile, the average hourly wage for a renter is $13.56, while minimum wage is just $7.25.
- In large part due to the lack of affordable housing, Hawai‘i has the highest homelessness rate among the fifty states. Inability to pay rent and eviction are frequently cited as events leading to homelessness. Even for those who are working or ready to move into permanent housing, there are few affordable options, causing them to languish in shelters or transitional housing.
- Hawai‘i has the highest rate of “doubling up” in the country, where multiple generations live in one unit
resource: http://hiappleseed.org/affordable-housing
Hawaii Apple is a center for Law and Economic Justice
Maybe I have to buy my dreamhouse in the Mainland and not in Hawaii? :(
Maybe I have to buy my dreamhouse in the Mainland and not in Hawaii? :(
This sadly the unfortunate truth about Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteMy friends and family from the mainland often complain (when they visit and rent homes or buy groceries) about the insane prices of not just homes, but groceries, gasoline, etc.
My family has also held serious debates on how it would probably be more financially logical if we were to move somewhere like the midwest and buy a 4-5 bedroom house, rather than spend the same amount of money on a 1-2 bedroom apartment in Honolulu.
So everyone says, "it is the price you pay for paradise!" :(
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ReplyDeleteHoly moly. I knew it was really bad, but not that bad. I am part of that statistics of doubling up. Only way to do it and go to school even with working full time. I don't know how people do it.
ReplyDeleteWe're from Tennessee originally and it's pretty funny that a mansion in TN costs the same as a literal shack here. You might have to get it on the mainland or make even money. Incomes can be lower than here, but certainly not proportionally.
Paradise is expensive! Thanks guys for reading my blog. Hope you all had 100% in the midterm exam this past weekend. I shall keep saving my pennies and hopefully by retirement, I can buy a shack on the beach. :)
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