Cost of Living

... 51st – Avg. Salary for Teachers (Adjusted for Cost of Living) ....

"...we can't continue to do nothing and expect the problem to just go away....”

... Here are some of the highlights:  Adds “affordable” housing to the title ....

... a new tax classification specifically for long-term “gap” rentals ....

... a family of four earning Hawaii’s median income of $88,005 a year would have a state income tax bill of $5,086. At that income level, only Oregon families face a higher tax burden ....

... NEM solar users bills increase: 100%, 200%, or more ... 

"... Innovative Transaction to Rehabilitate Properties and Preserve Long-Term Affordability ...."

... Can single-stair construction actually reduce the building costs and contribute to alleviating our housing shortage? ....

... how regulations and building codes have made constructing small apartment buildings more expensive and less efficient ....

... addressing critical issues related to clean energy access, affordability, and fairness in Hawai‘i ....

... “It really does is just put pressure on the Legislature and say, ‘Are you going to act?'"....

... Hawaii residents spend $3,070 each month on the ten most common household bills, which is +50% above the national average ....

... state law prohibits them from increasing prices on basic goods during Governor Green's State of Emergency ....

... Because it is temporary, Green’s Proclamation ensures that too few projects will be approved to actually bring down the cost of housing ....

... a 1961 land-use law and subsequent amendments placed most of the land in the state off limits to development ....

... data gathered by Hawaiian Electric and will ultimately determine how the program may roll out to all customers starting in late 2024 or 2025 ....

... private shipping companies cannot exclude shipments to Hawai’i and other non-contiguous parts of country and cannot charge inflated costs ....

... Hawaiian Electric Co. recently released its integrated grid plan, which put the cost of interconnecting the state’s planned renewable energy plants at around $9 billion — and that doesn’t include the cost to build the plants themselves ....

... At the ceremony, the Governor made clear that tax relief, especially for ALICE (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed) families, is still on the table.  There will be a Phase 2, he said, apparently targeting the 2024 legislative session ....

... Since the program’s inception in 2021, service providers from the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and Hawaiʻi Community Lending have been serving homeowners with the greatest needs ....

... Senate Bill 941 allows the School Facilities Authority to join with public and private agencies in developing off or on-campus housing for teachers and other staff ....

... why have prices spiked over the past half-century? ....

... UHERO released the first edition of an annual report on the state of housing called “The Hawaiʻi Housing Factbook” ....

... all the different layers of taxation on production and distribution make up about 40 percent of the retail price for beer ....

... some Hawaii lawmakers have been looking at the so-called Vienna model of housing as a way to help resolve Hawaii's housing crisis ....

... the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation expects the additional benefit of reduced demand for overnight and multiple-day parking ....

... "We are working with our colleagues, possibly in the next couple of weeks, you will see this housing declaration of emergency, similarly to address some of the bottlenecks on housing," Green said. ....

... in Honolulu a $250K salary is worth $82,672.04 ....

"... living in Hawaii would require an annual income of at least $80,000 to $100,000 for a single person and around $125,000 to $150,000 for a family ....”

... Honolulu average household credit card debt is $14,927, up by $2,498 ....

... #1 Highest Avg Rent in USA: Urban Honolulu, HI $2,514/mo ....

... lawmaking continues at the county level ....

... address the structural problems in the housing market, namely the strict regulatory environment ....

... you shouldn't have to be an "American Idol" winner to be priced back into Hawaii ....

... Hawaii has the highest debt-to-income ratio of any state at 2.26 ....

... you’ll get a lot more for your money in Mississippi than in Hawaii ....

... Desalination is an expensive energy hog ....

... Hawaii clocked in as the most expensive state for electricity, with a 44 cents per kilowatt-hour cost ....

... Three Lowest States: Arkansas (2.1), Mississippi (2.3), Hawaii (2.5) ....

... Recently, state legislators proposed a bill that, if passed, would increase the costs associated with obtaining and carrying a firearm for self-defense ....

... One of the bills in this past legislative session that fell to the cutting room floor when it probably shouldn’t have was Senate Bill 1035, which would have exempted medical services provided by health care providers if the services were paid for by Medicaid, Medicare, or TRICARE ....

... the Simpsons try to buy a house in Hawaii ....

... Honolulu ranks 280th of 300 overall and 62nd of 68 among large cities ....

... The four original contracts were negotiated in the 1990s and 2000s ... a typical residential customer using 500 kilowatts could see savings ranging from $9 to $13 per month ....

... Hawaii’s ideal savings benchmark is $1,813,768. But the average retirement fund there contains just $366,776. That’s 80% off the mark ....

"...Hawaiian Electric’s modeling shows that...energy rates may rise in the near-term transition to clean energy...."

... 2023’s Best & Worst Places to Start a Career ....

... Hawaii residents can reasonably expect to spend, on average, $1,501,762 over the course of their retirement starting at age 65, the highest amount of all states ....

... $104,052 Household Survival Budget drops to $85,812 when CTC (Child Tax Credit) and CDCTC (Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit) are applied ....

... Many of the locations that we will see initially will be in areas such as Hawaii, Guam, Japan and other locations in the [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command] theater ....