Rental housing in Hawai'i cost more than in any other state last year, although the cost to own a home was higher in three other states, according to a new Census report.

The report released today shows that Hawai'i's median household monthly rent last year was $995, meaning half the renters paid more and half paid less.

Only three other states had medians above $900 — California at $973, New Jersey at $935 and Massachusetts at $902.

A year earlier, Hawai'i's median rent was $871, or $124 less, and was the third most costly rental market behind California and New Jersey.

"It's a scary time," said Hector Hoyos, a Honolulu comedian who has been searching for a rental for two weeks. "Prices are crazy."

Higher rents largely reflect O'ahu home prices that soared nearly 30 percent last year — the biggest increase since 1990 — and strong demand by renters that enable landlords to raise prices.

For the past year, Hoyos has been sharing a rented Kaimuki house with one bedroom and a den for $1,600. He said he intends to move because his landlord is raising the rent to $2,200 this month.

"That's really high," he said. "I've lived all over the country. This is crazy."

The price to own a home, however, made a more modest jump last year in part because of interest rates that stayed generally between 5 percent and 6 percent in the past few years.

According to the Census report, last year's median monthly cost to own a Hawai'i home for owner-occupants with a mortgage was $1,763. That was less than $1,938 for New Jersey, $1,912 for California and $1,781 for Massachusetts.

A year earlier, Hawai'i ranked third highest for home ownership cost at $1,648 behind New Jersey at $1,847 and California at $1,733.

According to the survey, the median value of owner-occupied homes was $453,600 last year, second highest to California at $477,700. Home values are estimates reported by occupants, and include single-family homes and condominiums.

The Census report also showed that the segment of Hawai'i households spending more than one-third of their income on housing was 39.7 percent for homeowners with mortgages, and 43.9 percent for renters.

The Census survey had a varied margin for error that tended to be higher in Hawai'i because of the state's relatively small population.

Average household sizes in the report ranged from two to three people. Hawai'i's average was third highest at 2.88.

Excluded from the survey were people living in college dormitories, institutions and other group quarters.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.