Urban Honolulu, the state capital · Washington Place · Photo: CaesarGJ · Public domainHow Hawaii stacks up
No state expects more yearly damage from natural hazards, by FEMA’s count: in Hawaii, $364 a year for every $100,000 of buildings. Hawaii ranks 40th overall, with a C− and a score of 22. The good news is the 8th lowest violent-crime rate in the country; the bad news, a renters’ market (63% of homes owner-occupied) and test scores below most states.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
6th of 51A90/100 Crime is rare here. Violent crime runs at 214 per 100,000 residents, 35% below the national figure (8th lowest among the states). The town measure covers 33% of residents; many places have no police force of their own.
With property crime counted (property + 4 × violent), it places 23rd lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Hawaii has too few towns of 10,000+ to compare town by town; its grade rests on the official figure.
Schools
39th of 51C−24/100 Schools trail most states. 31% of students test Proficient on the Nation’s Report Card (26th highest) and 86% graduate on time (22nd lowest). It spends $24,029 per pupil (7th) and scores 26th, less than the spending would buy elsewhere. Only 0% of residents live in a town in the national top quarter, led by Hilo.
Graduation: 85.5% finish high school on time (class of 2023), 22nd lowest. The grade weighs test results and graduation equally.
Per-pupil spending, $24,029 (7th highest), is shown for context and not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 34 Hawaii towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
32nd of 51C+38/100 A bit expensive. Homes cost 8.4 times the typical household income, and the median tax bill is $2,239 (19th lowest). Home prices tell another story, 8.4 times income (highest). Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Waianae, #920 nationally.
Home values run 8.4 times the median household income, highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 34 Hawaii towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
21st of 51B60/100 A little healthier than average. About one adult in five here says their health is fair or poor (24th lowest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Ocean Pointe ranks highest, at #393.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 34 Hawaii towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
41st of 51C−20/100 More renters than most states. About 6 in 10 homes are lived in by their owners (8th lowest). 9% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 39% in a bottom-quarter one; East Honolulu ranks highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 34 Hawaii towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
51st of 51D−0/100 Among the highest natural-hazard risk. Hawaii ranks last in the country on this measure: $364 a year for every $100,000 of buildings. Even its best town, Waimalu, ranks #3,828 of 5,239 nationally. Inland flooding and earthquakes account for 81% of the expected damage.
Federal major-disaster declarations, 2015–2025: 9, 20th fewest.
Share of expected building damage: inland flooding 63%, earthquake 18%, tsunami 11%.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 34 Hawaii towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
37th of 51C28/100 Longer commutes than most states. The average trip to work takes 26.2 minutes. Schofield Barracks is among the ten best towns in the country for commute times (#5). Commutes stretch longest from East Honolulu.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 34 Hawaii towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
29th of 51C+44/100 Slower than the country. At +7.0% from 2010 to 2020, growth here was the 24th fastest among the states. Ocean Pointe leads its towns at #90 nationally; 15% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
Building: 3.5 new homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025, 17th fewest.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 32 Hawaii towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Hawaii compares to its neighbors
Against California, Hawaii leads on safety, cost of living and health but trails on schools and natural hazards.
| Hawaii | California | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | C− 2240th of 51 | D− 051st of 51 |
| Safety | A 908th official · 0% in top towns | D 1243rd official · 2% in top towns |
| Schools | C− 2426th official · 0% in top towns | B 6035th official · 17% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C+ 3819th official · 1% in top towns | D− 445th official · <1% in top towns |
| Health | B 6024th official · 20% in top towns | C 3242nd official · 18% in top towns |
| Housing | C− 2044th official · 9% in top towns | D− 449th official · 4% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | D− 051st official · 0% in top towns | D− 450th official · <1% in top towns |
| Commute | C 2835th official · 13% in top towns | D 646th official · 3% in top towns |
| Growth | C+ 4424th official · 15% in top towns | C+ 4225th official · 14% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work