Hawaiʻi residents are reporting better health and higher life satisfaction than they did two years ago, but a growing number of them — nearly half the state — say they're thinking about packing up and leaving anyway. That's the headline finding from a sweeping new statewide survey released Monday, which pairs rising well-being scores with a stubborn undercurrent of financial anxiety that officials say still threatens the islands' long-term population stability.
A Bigger, More Detailed Portrait Of Island Life
The 2026 Hawaiʻi Quality of Life and Well-Being Dashboard, launched by the Health Policy Initiative at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's College of Social Sciences, drew responses from more than 10,000 residents statewide, according to the University of Hawaiʻi System. That's close to 30% more responses than the initial 2024 survey, which gathered over 8,000 residents and established the baseline data that state agencies and lawmakers have used since to inform policy and grant applications, according to Big Island Now. Data for the 2026 edition were collected between February and May, and the university says it now represents the largest data set on health and well-being ever compiled in Hawaiʻi, as well as the nation's largest data set built using measures from the CDC's Worker Well-Being Questionnaire — a five-domain instrument the agency's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health developed with RAND Corporation in 2021 to evaluate health status, physical safety, organizational culture and home life.
The dashboard is a partnership between UH Mānoa and Hawaiʻi's Office of Wellness and Resilience, the nation's first statewide legislated office tasked with embedding trauma-informed practices across government systems. The office was established under 2022 legislation and expanded via a 2024 law. That mission traces back to February 2024, when Governor Josh Green signed an executive order formally declaring Hawaiʻi a trauma-informed state and directing executive departments to partner with the office on principles like safety, transparency and peer support — part of why the state now treats resident well-being as a tracked policy metric rather than a side note.
Satisfaction Climbs, But So Does The Urge To Leave
Overall life satisfaction rose to 88% of residents saying they were very or somewhat satisfied, up from 82% in 2024, per the university's findings. Physically unhealthy days dropped slightly to an average of 5.10 per month from 5.26 in 2024, and mentally unhealthy days eased to 6.36 from 6.69. Workplace violence reports also fell sharply, from 34% to 24% of workers.
Yet 46% of residents said they'd considered moving out of state in the past year, up from 40% in 2024. Among those considering a move, 37% cited cost of living as the reason, and the pressure was most acute for households earning between $25,000 and $49,000 a year, 52% of whom said they'd thought about leaving. Jack Barile, principal investigator and director of UH Mānoa's Social Science Research Institute, said the 2026 data show where the state stands on health and well-being two years after the first survey.
Younger Adults Carry A Heavier Mental Health Burden
The toll isn't evenly spread across age groups. Residents age 18 to 24 reported an average of 8.5 mentally unhealthy days per month, and those 25 to 34 reported 8.9 days — both well above the statewide average — while residents 65 and older reported about five or fewer. Younger adults, the university's findings note, report significant mental health and affordability concerns even as survey data overall point to stronger family, friend and community support networks statewide.
Governor Green said overall well-being improving is encouraging, but that gaps remain between households doing well and those struggling. He said younger adults and families in particular are questioning whether they can build a future in Hawaiʻi. That tension between statewide gains and generational strain echoes what Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan M. Dela Cruz said about the value of repeating the survey: it helps the state assess what's working and how conditions are changing. Dela Cruz added that nearly half of residents considering leaving is a signal the state needs to diversify its economy and expand economic opportunity.
Housing Costs Remain The Common Thread
The affordability pressure showing up in the dashboard lines up with other recent data on the islands' cost structure. An October study by Oxford University professor Zach Parolin for the Pew Charitable Trusts, covered by Hoodline, found housing costs account for 34% of Hawaiʻi's total poverty rate — the highest share of any state — and 42% of child poverty under the Supplemental Poverty Measure. Aloha United Way's 2026 ALICE report similarly calculated that a single adult needs $39,384 a year and a family of four needs $107,796 just to cover a basic survival budget, a gap that has left more than a third of surveyed households weighing a move off-island.
Economic researchers say the strain isn't simply a matter of perception. UHERO research published in February found that Hawaiʻi's persistent out-migration is driven by low labor productivity and weak real wage growth, meaning local paychecks behave like lower-income mainland earnings once adjusted for the state's prices. U.S. Census Bureau estimates released in January showed Hawaiʻi's population fell to 1,432,820 in 2025, a one-year decline of 2,132 people and a loss of 22,447 residents, or 1.5%, since April 2020 — a trend Honolulu voters will weigh in on next month, when a charter amendment on the November 3 ballot asks whether the city should develop a local living wage framework.
Food Security Improves, Healthcare Gaps Persist By Island
Not every indicator moved in the same direction as housing pressure. Food insecurity statewide fell from 11.6% to 8.5%, though it remained far higher among the lowest earners, with 27% of households making less than $25,000 reporting food insecurity. Disaster preparedness also improved, with 23% of residents saying they felt well or very well prepared, nearly double the 12% recorded in 2024.
Healthcare access, though, showed one of the dashboard's starkest geographic divides. Statewide, 21% of residents said nearby doctors, specialists or facilities were a major problem, but that figure jumped to 39% in Hawaiʻi County compared with just 14% in Honolulu County — a gap the university's findings attribute to doctor shortages and medical facility access being significantly more acute in rural counties than on Oʻahu.
What State Officials Say Comes Next
The university's report lists a set of policy recommendations drawn from the dashboard's findings: expanding affordable housing, wage increases and employment benefits to address cost of living; directing programs and resources toward lower-income households; investing in disaster outreach, planning and resilient infrastructure; and encouraging Hawaiʻi employers to adopt trauma-informed, family-friendly workplace practices. Residents can explore the full dashboard themselves, comparing findings by community, year, occupation and geographic region, with the underlying data housed exclusively at UH Mānoa. Marc Arakaki, a UH Communications spokesperson, and Erica Yamauchi, director of communications and engagement for the Office of Wellness and Resilience, were both named in connection with the dashboard's release.
