A healthy renting couple age 65 or older in Hawaiʻi needs an estimated $4,585 a month just to cover basic living expenses, compared with $3,918 nationally, according to a new analysis of the state's aging population. For a single older renter, the gap is similarly stark: $3,436 a month in Hawaiʻi versus $2,836 nationally. Housing costs are driving much of that difference, the analysis found, as Hawaiʻi's senior population continues to grow.
The figures come from University of Hawaiʻi System News, which reported on work by James Mak, professor emeritus of economics and a fellow with the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization, known as UHERO. Mak used the 2025 Elder Economic Security Standard Index to estimate the minimum income older adults need to live independently, without relying on public or private subsidies. The index is designed to capture real-world costs rather than theoretical poverty thresholds, and it calculates basic expenses based on household size, housing tenure and health status, according to the Elder Economic Security Standard Index documentation from UMass Boston's Gerontology Institute.
Notably, the index's basic-needs budget leaves out plenty of things most people consider part of daily life. It excludes dining out, vacations, savings, gifts, entertainment and long-term care, focusing instead on housing, health care, transportation, food and other essentials, per the Association of Health Care Journalists' glossary entry on the tool. That same source notes the index's cost estimates are based on market costs and do not assume any subsidies, meaning the real squeeze on seniors who do qualify for assistance could look different.
Housing Costs Set Hawaiʻi Apart
Within Hawaiʻi itself, the cost of aging in place varies sharply by county. Honolulu County was generally the least affordable for older adults, while Hawaiʻi and Kauaʻi counties were comparatively more affordable, the UH News report states. A single renter in Honolulu County would need an estimated $3,563 a month to meet basic needs, compared with $3,106 in Kauaʻi County and $3,172 in Hawaiʻi County.
The report also found that housing is the largest monthly expense for older adults who rent or still carry a mortgage, while health care becomes the largest expense for couples who have paid off their homes. That split matters in a state where a large share of residents never stop paying rent. Roughly 40% of Hawaiʻi households rent, and renters have a median household income of $57,000 compared with $100,000 for homeowners, according to a separate UHERO analysis of rental assistance needs statewide.
A Population Growing Older, Fast
The cost pressure is colliding with rapid demographic change. More than 310,000 Hawaiʻi residents were age 65 or older in 2024, representing 21.5% of the state's population, up from 16.2% a decade earlier. By 2035, UH News reports, one in four Hawaiʻi residents is expected to be 65 or older, a trajectory separately confirmed by UHERO's broader research on Hawaiʻi's generational economy, which projects the same one-in-four milestone.
Hawaiʻi's population of adults 85 and older is also increasing, and older adults in poorer health face substantially higher health care costs as that group grows, the UH News report notes. Hawaiʻi's aging trend has been building for years; a state long-range economic projection document had already flagged population aging as one of the most prominent features of Hawaiʻi's demographic future, with the 65-and-older group growing especially quickly since 2010.
Fewer Workers to Support a Growing Senior Population
The shift carries consequences beyond individual household budgets. As Hawaiʻi's senior population grows and younger working residents continue to leave the state, there will be fewer taxpayers and workers available to support older adults, according to reporting from Honolulu Civil Beat on the state's super-aged trajectory.
UH News reports that addressing housing affordability and health care access would benefit older adults and Hawaiʻi residents more broadly, framing the issue as one with implications well beyond the senior population alone. UHERO, which conducted the underlying analysis, is housed within the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's College of Social Sciences.
Older Hawaiʻi households have faced an affordability gap for years. A separate historical snapshot found that in 2017, a single older adult in good health living alone in a rented apartment needed an average of $23,364 to cover basic expenses, far above that year's federal poverty level of $12,060 for one person, per the Association of Health Care Journalists.
