Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism

For Immediate Release: August 16, 2021

HONOLULU—The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) today released the 2020 edition of the “State of Hawaii Data Book.”

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

The Hawaii State Data Book is the most comprehensive statistical book about Hawaii in a single compilation. Classified into 24 sections with more than 850 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 Data Book has been around for over 50 years and is one of the most popular data products DBEDT provides to the public,” said DBEDT Director Mike McCartney. “The 2020 Data Book offers information that can help people make informed choices and decisions in their personal and business lives and for their communities, as well as seeing the impact of COVID-19 on all aspects of our State.”

Added State Economist Dr. Eugene Tian: “We update the data book year-round when data become available. Some of the data are not presently available such as population demographics and visitor characteristics. We will update the tables as soon as the data become available.”

Some interesting data in this newest edition include:

• Fifty percent of Hawaii’s 2020 high school graduates enrolled in college, with 31% enrolling in 4-year colleges and 19% enrolling in 2-year colleges. Maui County had the highest percentage of 4-year college enrollees at 45% and Kauai County had the highest percentage of 2-year college enrollees at 30%. (Table 3.23)
• The Hawaii State Library System had a circulation of 1.1 million eBooks, audio, and music during the 2020 fiscal year. This was an 18.3% increase from FY2019. (Table 3.29)
• There were 1,978 complaints of internet crime by Hawaii residents in 2020, with $13.7 million in victim losses. (Table 4.14)
• For the 2020 fiscal year, the total inmate population in Hawaii decreased by 18.0% from 5,427 in FY2019 to 4,449 in FY2020. (Table 4.23)
• The Hawaii Land Use Commission approved the reclassification of 53 acres of conservation land on Oahu to urban in 2020. (Table 6.04)
• In the 2020 general elections, the number of registered voters (832,466) and numbers of votes cast (579,784) hit all-time historic highs with the percent of registered voters voting the highest it has been since 1994. (Table 8.03)
• The percentage of multiple jobholders in Hawaii declined from 7.1 percent of those employed in 2019 to 6.2 percent in 2020 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The U.S. average similarly declined from 5.1 percent to 4.5 percent. (Table 12.24)
• According to the CNBC’s ‘Top States for Business’, which scores all 50 states on 85 metrics in 10 broad categories of competitiveness, Hawaii ranked 2nd in ‘Life, health, and inclusion’ but ranked 49th in ‘Cost of living’ and 50th in ‘Cost of doing business’ in 2021. (Table 14.13)
• In a May 2021 survey of 100 top U.S. airports by CheapCarRental, four Hawaii car rental destinations were included among the top six most expensive. Kahului, Kona, Honolulu, and Līhue were ranked 1, 2, 5, and 6 respectively. (Table 14.18)
• In 2020 the amount of ‘Shares in dollars’ held in the State of Hawaii Credit Unions reached a new high of 11,977,653,091 dollars. (Table 15.05)
• From 2019 to 2020, total gas sales decreased by 26.2% on Oahu, 25.1% on Hawaii Island and 30.3% on Maui. The decrease was caused by an average 30% decrease in non-residential gas sales for the three islands. (Table 17.12)
• In 2020 there were 741 commercial pilots in Hawaii of that 101 were women. (Table 18.33)
• There were 24,157 scheduled flights arrived in Hawaii in 2020 which because of the COVID-19 outbreak was significantly down from 61,493 scheduled flights in 2019. (Table 18.40)
• There were 647 foreclosures filed in Hawaii in 2020, down 46% from 1,198 foreclosure filings in 2019. This was the first time since 2007 that the state has had fewer than 1,000 foreclosure filings. (Table 21.40)
• During the 2020 fiscal year, the United States Postal Service delivered 479 million pieces of mail originating in Hawaii, down from 512 million pieces of mail in 2019. (Table 16.05)
• In 2020, the general excise tax base for hotel rentals was $2,659,859,200. This was only 44.7% of 2019’s value. (Table 23.39)
• Compared to 2019, duty-free revenue at Hawaii airports decreased by 25.6% for the contract year ending May 31, 2020. At $78,428,627, it was the first time since the start of data reporting that duty-free revenues were under $100 million. (Table 23.10)
• In 2020, Hawaii’s hotel occupancy was 37.1% and revenue per available room was $99.24. (Table 23.38)
• Both export and import of commodity from/to Hawaii declined significantly in 2020, 30% and 49% decrease from 2019 respectively. Top two export markets in 2020 were Australia ($50.6M) and Japan ($46.3M) while top two import markets were Japan ($291.3M) and South Korea ($224.3M). (Table 24.05 & 24.06)

DBEDT’s Research and Economic Analysis Division (READ) also maintains the time series of tables and updates the data continuously throughout the year. The time series and the updates can also be found on the DBEDT website at dbedt.hawaii.gov/economic/databook.

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About the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT)
DBEDT is Hawaii’s resource center for economic and statistical data, business development opportunities, energy and conservation information, and foreign trade advantages. DBEDT’s mission is to achieve a Hawaii economy that embraces innovation and is globally competitive, dynamic and productive, providing opportunities for all Hawaii ’s citizens. Through its attached agencies, the department fosters planned community development, creates affordable workforce housing units in high-quality living environments, and promotes innovation sector job growth.

Media Contacts:
Dr. Eugene Tian
Research and Economic Analysis Division
Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
(808) 586-2470
dbedt.hawaii.gov/economic

Charlene Chan
Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism
(808) 824-0134
dbedt.hawaii.gov