Honolulu residents give up, leave for greener pastures

Everyone has a “fed-up factor,” the point where you are willing to say leaving town is the only option. Even in Honolulu.

A new survey by Bloomberg News reports that Honolulu ranks fourth among the 30 top cities that are losing local residents.

Honolulu’s population as a whole may be growing, but U.S. Census data shows Honolulu’s local residents are bailing, although the polite term is “domestic migration.”

Saying that residents of New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu are “fleeing in droves,” the July 22 Bloomberg report credits real estate prices as the big turn off.

“Soaring home prices are pushing local residents out and scaring away potential new ones from other parts of the country,” said the report.

“Hawaii may be viewed as a bridge too far by people like me living in New York to consider moving to. It’s more expensive just to visit to check it out. And the challenging economy might make it less likely people are feeling bold enough to move to Hawaii,” said Aaron Renn, senior fellow at the Manhattan for Policy Research, when asked about the shift in Honolulu’s local population.

The census numbers show the “leaving on a jet plane rate” is increasing.

About 3,500 people moved from Oahu to the mainland each year during the latest survey period of 2011 to 2013, according to the census.

That compares to just 1,287 leaving town the year before, in 2010.

All those discouraging numbers come on top of a new MoneyRates.com survey showing Hawaii is the worst state to make a living.

“Adjusted for taxes and cost of living, workers in Hawaii get the equivalent value of just 55 cents for every dollar they make,” the report said.

Still, if you wait long enough you can find a survey to match your feelings about Hawaii.

For instance the international consulting firm, Mercer, rates cities to help companies calculate the benefits needed for executives. Honolulu, in the Mercer 2015 “quality of life” survey, ranks 35th among 230 cities, Vienna is No. 1 and Baghdad, No. 230.

The final survey is the 2014 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. It is a major annual report which Gallup says “captures how people feel about and experience their daily lives.”

The good news is that Hawaii is usually among the nation’s happiest places. We were No. 1 from 2009 to 2011, slipped to eighth place in 2013 and climbed back to second in the 2014 survey.

“The happiness of Honolulu residents is likely derived from healthy behaviors. Just 22.1% percent of adults in the area were identified as obese in 2013, and only 14.6 percent of adults smoked regularly — nearly the lowest rates in the country,” says a summary of the survey.

The downside of the good news is that “While the area’s median household income of $73,388 was one of the highest incomes nationwide, the cost of living is the highest compared to the nation.”

Much like that other “happiest place on Earth” — Disneyland — Honolulu is not cheap and not everyone can afford to remain inside the gates.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.