Hawaii leads or trails nation in many Census categories
From Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism,
Research and Economic Analysis Division
On Sept. 22, the U.S. Census Bureau released data from its American Community Survey for 2010. The tables revealed many categories in which the state of Hawaii leads or trails the other 49.
Hawaii is first in the nation in:
- Percent of the total population who are Asian alone, 38.9 percent
- Percent of the total population who are Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander alone, 9.9 percent
- Percent of the total population who are two or more races, 23.8 percent
- Percent of people born in Asia, 76.8 percent
- Percent of workers 16 years and over who traveled to work by car, truck, or van/carpooled, 13.8 percent
- Percent of households that are multigenerational, 7.2 percent
- Median housing value of owner-occupied housing units (dollars), $525,400
Hawaii is last in the nation in:
- Percent of the total population who are white alone, 24.6 percent
- Percent of people born in Europe, 5.1 percent
- Percent of people born in Latin America, 5.1 percent
- Percent of workers 16 years and over who worked outside county of residence, 1.0 percent
- Percent of grandparents responsible for their grandchildren, 23.0 percent
- Percent of civilian employed population 16 years and over in the manufacturing industry, 2.9 percent
- Percent of housing units that are mobile homes, 0.2 percent
Highlights for Hawaii from the 2010 ACS survey
Looking at the population characteristics and comparing them with other states in the nation, Hawaii continues to see the following trends:
> More Asians: Hawaii ranked first in terms of percentage of Asian population. 38.9 percent of Hawaii’s population said that they were Asians only (those selecting only one racial group) in 2010 versus 4.8 percent for the nation as a whole. Our state also ranked the highest for the percentage of people born in Asia.
> More Native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders: Hawaii also had the largest percentage of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders only in the nation: 9.9 percent for Hawaii versus 0.2 percent for the nation in 2010.
> More diverse population: Hawaii ranked first also in the percentage of mixed ethnic population at 23.8 percent compared with 2.7 percent for the nation.
> Larger household size: The average household size of 2.96 persons placed Hawaii 2nd highest in the nation.
> More households with elderly residents: The percentage of households with one or more people 65 years and over was 30.1 and our state ranked second in the nation. Not surprisingly, we also ranked high in the nation at fourth for the percent of households with retirement income. The percentage of our households receiving retirement income was 21.5.
> More multigenerational households: Our state ranked the highest in the U.S. for percent of households that are multigenerational at 7.2 percent.
> Fewer grandparents responsible for their grandchildren: Despie leading the nation in households with elderly residents, Hawaii is ranked the lowest for the percent of grandparents (living with grandchildren) who are responsible for their grandchildren. Hawaii had 23.0 percent of the households in this category.
> Higher use of public transportation or car pool: Hawaii ranked first in percentage of workers using carpool to go to work with 13.8 percent of our population in this category. Hawaii ranked seventh in the nation for proportion of population who travel to work by public transportation with 6.6 percent of our workers using this type of transportation.
> More people work in the service sector: Hawaii ranked second in the nation in percentage of workers working in the service occupations with 22.4 percent of our workers in this category.
> Higher value of real property: Hawaii’s median housing value was $525,400 in 2010, ranking the highest in the nation, with Washington D.C. right below our state at $426,900. The national median housing value in 2010 was $179,900.
> Lower homeownership: Hawaii’s homeownership of 58.0 percent in 2010 was among the bottom 4 states and district in the nation. Washington D.C. had the lowest homeownership at 42.5 percent. New York State was the second lowest at 54.3 percent; California was the third lowest at 55.6 percent.
> Higher cost of living: Hawaii’s median rent of $1,291 in 2010 placed Hawaii first in the nation. The U.S. median rent was $855 per month. Hawaii homeowner’s monthly housing cost of $2,240 in 2010 was the fourth highest in the nation. Our state also ranked high for proportion of income spent on housing. The percentage of mortgaged owners spending 30 percent or more of household income on selected monthly owner costs was second highest in the nation. For percentage of renter-occupied units spending 30 percent or more of household income on rent and utilities, Hawaii was ranked fourth in this category listing.
> More people per room: With the U.S. having 3.4 percent of its occupied housing units with 1.01 or more occupants per room, Hawaii stood out in this category and ranked second in the nation. The percentage of our state’s housing units with more than one person per room was 8.5 percent.
> Higher health insurance coverage: 7.9 percent of Hawaii residents didn’t have health insurance coverage in 2010. Of course, that means that 92.1 percent of Hawaii residents were covered by health insurance. This ranked Hawaii third in the nation. In terms of health insurance coverage for children, 96.3 percent of Hawaii’s children were covered, ranking fifth place in the nation (including D.C.) in 2010.
Background: The ACS survey began in 1996 and Hawaii has been included since 2000. Between 2000 and 2004, Hawaii ACS data were available only for the State of Hawaii and the City and County of Honolulu. Starting in 2005, Hawaii County and Maui County (excluding Kalawao County, or Kalaupapa) were included. Census Bureau releases one-year data for areas with population size of 65,000 and above due to sample size issues. Data for all the four counties in Hawaii are available --click here.
