Hawaii’s Population Drain Outpaces Most States — Again … Even as the state has more people being born than dying, Hawaii’s population continues to decline as people leave the state for less expensive pastures.
A few years ago, despite the nation’s lowest unemployment rate, Hawaii was one of the few states that lost population: a situation so striking that a national newspaper described it with the headline, “Hawaii has record-low unemployment and it’s not a frozen hellscape. Why are people leaving?”
The population decline has continued in the islands, but in 2020-2021, Hawaii was no longer mostly alone. It was one of 17 states and the District of Columbia with a net loss of residents.
The bad news: Hawaii lost more residents than all but three other states.
