Residents sour on Honolulu’s quality of life

SA: ... Oahu residents don’t feel as good about living here as they did in 2006 or even a year ago, according to a recent survey.

Asked to sum up the overall quality of life in Honolulu, 14% of those polled rated it as excellent, and 40% said it was good. The rest rated overall quality of life as fair or poor.

The 54% positive quality-of-life rating (adding the excellent and good ratings together) tallied in December is a significant drop from the 77% quality-of-life rating given when the same poll was asked as part of the Honolulu Community Livability report 13 years earlier. The rating stayed at 70% or higher through 2012 and then dropped to 62%-68% from 2014 to 2017.

When compared with folks surveyed in other communities, the 54% quality-of-life rating is also a lower figure than other, mainland cities. Out of 433 communities that were asked the quality- of-life question, Honolulu ranked 391st, which is in the 10th percentile.... 

The auditor’s office mailed out 1,700 surveys to random households on the island, and 376 responses were received. The margin of error is 5%.

A lot fewer Oahu residents today believe Honolulu is a good place to retire or raise children than people did in the past.

In 2019, only 39% of those surveyed rated Honolulu as an excellent or good place to retire. That’s down from 68% in 2006. In 2019, 53% rated Honolulu positively when asked whether the Gathering Place is a place to raise children, down from 71% in 2006.

A whopping 76% of those polled in 2019 ranked Honolulu as an excellent or good place to visit. But only 53% said they were very likely or somewhat likely to recommend Honolulu as a place to live if someone asked. Nearly 1 in 4 Oahu residents surveyed, or 24%, said it was “somewhat unlikely” or “very unlikely” they would remain in Honolulu for the next five years....

read ... Residents sour on Honolulu’s quality of life

HNN: Report: 1 in 4 Honolulu residents say they plan to be gone by 2025 

Borreca: Surveys revealing Hawaii residents’ quality-of-life dissatisfaction should worry politicians

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2019 National Community Survey for the City and County of Honolulu

From Honolulu City Auditor, February 25, 2020 (excerpts)

This is the eleventh National Community Survey of Honolulu residents conducted for the City and the tenth administered in conjunction with the Service Efforts and Accomplishments Report. The National Community Survey (NCS) is a collaborative effort between the National Research Center and the International City/County Management Association. The survey and its administration are standardized to assure high quality research methods and directly comparable results across over 600 NCS communities. Great communities are partnerships of the government, private sector, community-based organizations, and residents; all geographically connected. In addition, for the first time, an on-line version of the survey was available to all Honolulu residents and results of that survey is reported separately

The NCS captures residents’ opinions within the three pillars of a community--Community Characteristics, Governance and Participation, and across eight facets of community--Safety, Mobility, Natural Environment, Built Environment, Economy, Recreation and Wellness, Education and Enrichment, and Community Engagement. The community survey is comprised of five reports: Community Livability, Dashboard Summary of Findings, Trends over Time, Technical Appendices, and Supplemental Online Results

The results from this year’s NCS indicate:

•Honolulu residents identified Safety and the Economy as important areas of focus in the coming years.

•The impact of homelessness on the community and protecting Honolulu’s drinking water aquifers from the Navy's fuel storage leaks a re priorities for the City to address.

•Protecting and preparing infrastructure for climate change threats; providing 24/7-real time traffic incident information to assist drivers and reduce traffic congestion; and strengthening ethics, transparency, and accountability in City government also received strong support from residents.

•Cost of living and the availability of quality affordable housing were given the lowest ratings indicating that they pose a serious challenge to Honolulu residents.

•Residents gave high ratings for feelings of safety in their neighborhood and community engagement characteristics such as opportunities to volunteer and participate in community matters, openness and acceptance, and neighborliness….

read … Cover Letter

View Full National Community Survey™ Honolulu, HI - 2019  (2.8MB)

View National Citizen Survey by Section 

2019 NCS Cover, Transmittal Letter and Table of Contents  (170KB)

1: Community Livability Report   (309KB)

2: Dashboard Summary of Findings   (207KB)

3: Trends Over Time  (426KB)

4: Technical Appendices  (1.48MB)

5:  Supplemental Online Survey Results  (629KB)