US Census Bureau: Hawaii’s population continued to decline

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said the number of residents leaving Hawaii doubled in 2020, based on an erroneous interpretation of the data taken from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii press release, which drew on another source for its figures. The U.S. Census Bureau’s July 1 population figures estimate that the population of Hawaii decreased by about the same amount from July 2018 to July 2019 as from July 2019 to July 2020. This data is preliminary and does not reflect final 2020 migration figures, which will be released in 2021.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include more context for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Hawaii’s population declined again in 2020, with a net population loss of about 8,000 residents from July 2019 to July 2020, according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau data.

It is one of the highest rates of population decline per capita in the United States, the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii noted. Hawaii’s overall population is 1.4 million residents.

The island state’s economy has been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic, exacerbating issues that include a high cost of living and a lack of job opportunities for locals beyond tourism.

When Hawaii locked down in March 2020 and closed to tourism, the unemployment rate at the time was 2.7%, with similar numbers reported throughout 2019. But by April, the unemployment had risen to 22.3% as the state saw jobs vanish, according to Hawaii’s Department of Labor.

As of September, the latest month with unemployment data, the unemployment rate was 15.1%.

People leaving Hawaii has been an ongoing issue during the past decade. From 2013 to 2019, Hawaii saw a net migration of 61,700 move to the mainland. California was a top destination for former Hawaii residents, receiving more than 20 percent of domestic migrants, the Department of Labor reported in 2019.

Residents with higher levels of education, such as a master’s degree or beyond, were more likely to move out of the state, while those with education less than a high school diploma were the least mobile.

“This isn’t a new problem for our state,” Keli’i Akina, president and CEO of conservative think tank Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, said in a statement. “For some time now, our neighbors, family and friends have been moving away to states such as Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Texas, which have lower taxes and fewer regulations, and offer residents more freedoms and opportunities.”