Hawaii statistics revealing | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii statistics revealing | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Friday, July 6, 2007

Hawaii statistics revealing

By Jerry Burris
Public Affairs Editor

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For details, go to www.taxpayersnetwork.org

Hawai'i is, if nothing else, a self-absorbed state.

We like to think of ourselves as unusual, even unique and, to remember a famous political slogan, a "special place."

But are we that special, really? How do we stack up against other states in the kinds of measurements that tell how we are doing as a society?

One interesting place to look is an organization called "The Taxpayers Network," a nonprofit out of Green Bay, Wis.

The network appears to be a rather compulsive gatherer of statistics, particularly comparative statistics involving the 50 states. A lot of its data come from the U.S. Census, as well as other organizations who like to keep track of us.

The group recently put out a little booklet titled "50 State Comparisons," and it offers a fascinating peek into how we stand up to the rest of the nation. It's important to note that every statistic has an explanation, so one should use these numbers with caution. But with those caveats in mind, dive in to the booklet and learn:

Hawai'i's population grew considerably slower than the national average between 2000 and 2006. The fastest-growing state was — you guessed it — Nevada. And it's a good bet that our slower-than-average growth was directly related to Nevada's fast growth as folks decamped the Islands for Las Vegas.

We like to complain about our housing costs, and with reason. Hawai'i was No. 4 in the nation in owner-occupied housing costs. But the real killer is in rental costs: The average rental cost in Hawai'i in 2005 (when the survey was conducted) was $995, the highest in the nation. And by the way, our median housing value that year was second-highest in the nation, behind California.

So, if housing is so expensive here, then incomes must match, right? Not so. Our disposable income ranking in that same year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, was just 20th in the nation. Tops was the District of Columbia, with all those high-paid politicians and government workers, presumably.

Turning the card upside down, the survey also looked at the percent of population below the poverty level. We were No. 45, probably because of our high percentage of people with more than one job.

It sometimes seems as if everyone in Hawai'i works either for the state or county government. But in truth, we rank just 30th out of all the states in full-time government employees per 10,000 residents. No. 1, you might be interested to know, is Wyoming.

Now here's one for the record books, largely the work of tight-fisted former Gov. Ben Cayetano and his successor, Linda Lingle. For the period 1996 through 2005, Hawai'i had one of the slowest growth rates in state per capita spending. Only Alaska and Nevada grew more slowly during that period.

But wait! Maybe there is an explanation for our slow growth in state spending: Someone else is picking up the tab. Like Uncle Sam. Turns out, according to the group Citizens Against Government Waste, that Hawai'i was No. 2 in the nation in federal pork spending, per capita, in 2006. A lot of that was courtesy of our senior Sen. Daniel K. Inouye whose close friend and political partner, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, helped put his home state at No. 1 in this category.

How about education? These numbers are tricky because of our state centralized system and the fact that some education costs are not counted in the education budget, but come out of other parts of the state treasury. But still, the National Education Association says that in 2006, per pupil spending on education in Hawai'i was $8,745, about in the middle of the ranking with the national average at $9,022.

But when we do spend, we tend to spend on our teachers. The estimated average salary of teachers in Hawai'i during the 2005-06 school year was $51,599, or 14th best in the nation and several thousand dollars above the national average.

Being almost totally dependent on imported oil for our energy, it comes as little surprise that we are No. 1 in the nation in electricity prices, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. We pay 19.4 cents per kilowatt, compared to the national average of 9.45 cents.

However, we are 48th in the nation in electricity consumption on a per capita basis, the Department of Energy says.

Rankings such as these obviously tell less than a full story. Statistics only get you so far.

But it is interesting to know where we stand, and for policymakers, this is a good benchmark to guide them in where they need to press their attention in the coming years.

Reach Jerry Burris at jburris@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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