DBEDT releases 56th edition of State of Hawai‘i Data Book

Did you know that nearly two-thirds of all marriages in Hawaiʻi involve out-of-state couples? Or that fast food and counter workers make up the state’s largest workforce?

These are just some of the many fascinating insights revealed in the 2023 edition of the “State of Hawai‘i Data Book,” released Thursday by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT). The Data Book, now in its 56th edition, serves as Hawaiʻi’s most comprehensive statistical resource.

Classified into 24 sections with 845 data tables, it covers a broad range of information in areas such as population, education, environment, economics, energy, real estate, construction, business enterprises, government, tourism and transportation.

The book is in electronic form and is available on the DBEDT website at dbedt.hawaii.gov/economic/databook. The data tables can be downloaded in whole or in part as either PDF or Excel files.

“The Data Book has been around over half of a century and has been one of the most popular products DBEDT offers to the public.” said DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka. “The book is an essential tool for people to know Hawai‘i’s history, current situation and future development. Our researchers also produced two products based on the data book. One of them is the County Social, Business and Economic Trends and the other is the Data Book Time Series; both can be found on our website.”

Some interesting data in this newest edition include:

Education and Social Aspects

• Public school enrollment declined about 1,000 students from the 2022-2023 to the 2023-2024 school year. It was a decrease smaller than experienced in the previous few years.  Public school enrollment declined about 3,000 students per year for three consecutive years since the 2020-2021 school year.

• Enrollment increased at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) by 560 students and UH Community Colleges by 624 students from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023.

• Demand for eBooks/audio/music circulation in the Hawai‘i library system has been strong since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with 2019, hours open were 20.4% lower but eBooks/audio/music circulation was 40.8% higher in 2023.

• A total of 20,777 marriages were reported in Hawai‘i in 2022, of which 7,068 marriages were resident marriages. Except for 2020, less than 40%x of total marriages were resident marriages between 2004 and 2022. Resident marriages were on a clear declining trend since 2010 when there were 9,117 resident marriages.

• In 2022 there were 694 people 100 years old or older that were recipients of Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI).

• In 1980, the number of death dispositions by burial and cremation was close at 2,343 and 2,241, respectively. Cremation took the top position shortly after and in 2022 the number of cremations was 4 times greater than burials at 10,202 and 2,445, respectively. Disposition for Medical Science has been slowly growing, from 40 in 2000 to 126 in 2022.

Employment, Businesses and Economy

• The percentage of multiple jobholders in Hawai‘i increased from 5.5% in 2022 to 7.2 % in 2023. The US average showed the same direction but a less dramatic increase – from 4.8% in 2022 to 5.0% in 2023.

• According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics compilation of employment for May 2023, fast food and counter workers again topped the list of Hawai‘i’s largest occupations at 24,080 and retail salespersons again came in second with employment of 16,420. Fast food and counter workers had a mean hourly wage of $14.90 and mean annual wage of $30,990 while retail salespersons had a mean hourly wage of $18.81 and annual mean wage of $39,130.

• In 2023, total revenue of duty-free stores was four times greater than their total revenues in 2022, but it was only 12.1% of 2019 level, suggesting the impact of COVID-19 was catastrophic to these stores.

• In 2023, there were 47 credit unions in Hawai‘i serving 869,628 members. Compared with 1999 when compilation of the statistics started, the number of credit unions decreased by 59 but the number of credit union members increased 47.4%.

• The US Department of Defense budget for Hawai‘i military construction shows a total obligated authority of $1.41 billion for the 2024 federal fiscal year (FFY) and $1.67 billion for FFY2025 largely due to the $1.32 billion and $1.20 billion, respectively for Navy Dry Dock 3 replacement at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

• The federal government collected $11.3 billion in Hawai‘i in 2023 federal fiscal year (FFY) reflecting a decrease of 2.3% over FFY 2022. This was influenced by a 3.0% decrease in net individual income and employment tax collections. Among the other tax collection components, estate, gift and excise tax collections saw increases while business income saw a very small increase.

• In 2023, Hawai‘i’s commodity imports totaled $2.71 billion, a 7.7% increase from the $2.52 billion in 2022. Imports from top-ranking South Korea totaled $705 million and Japan was second with a total of $471 million in 2023.

Travel, Recreation and Transportation

• The statewide average daily hotel room rate continued its climb in 2023 to $377.55, 1.3% higher than the average rate in 2022. It was a moderate increase compared to the two-digit rate increases experienced in the previous two years. In 2023, Maui had the highest average room rate at $591.09, followed by Hawai‘i ($427.36), Kaua‘i ($420.02), and O‘ahu ($281.69).

• Honolulu Zoo had the most attendees since COVID-19 at 501,967 people in 2023. It is 88.2% of the number of attendees in 2019 and 160,498 more people that attended than in 2021.

• As of December 31, 2023, there were 12,484 vessels registered with Hawai‘i State Department of Land and Natural Resources. The most common type of vessel was “open motorboat” which made up 53% of all vessels and 99% of the registered vessels were for “pleasure.”

• Out of the state total of 4,529 miles of streets and highways in 2023, O‘ahu has more than one third, at 1,720 miles. Of that 1,720 miles, only eight miles are categorized as unpaved, which is the fewest miles of unpaved roads on any of the islands in Hawai‘i.

• Los Angeles was the most frequent destination of transpacific flights to depart from the state of Hawai‘i in 2023. In July 2023, more than one in five transpacific, scheduled or chartered, flights that departed Hawai‘i were for arrival in Los Angeles.

Miscellaneous:

• During the 2024 Hawai‘i legislative session, the House introduced 1,293 bills in which 143 bills were passed and 140 of those became law. The Senate introduced 1,385 bills; 119 bills passed and 113 of those bills became law. 

• In 2023, the Hawai‘i Land Use Commission (LUC) made a reclassification of 200 acres on Lāna‘i from Agricultural to Urban. The LUC retained the classification of 973,792 acres in Conservation and the 11,015 acres in Rural. Of the state total of 4,112,388 acres, there are now 200,898 acres in Urban and 1,926,683 acres in Agricultural.

• United States Postal Service pieces of mail originating in Hawai‘i steadily declined from 595 million in 2011 to 429 million in 2023. Over the same period, the number of postal stations declined to almost half (43 to 25), whereas the number of post offices has increased (70 to 85).

• The inventory of cattle and calves was the largest at 148,000 in 2023. It is the highest count since 2010 at 151,000.