Isle housing costs Hawaii has the highest housing costs and values of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey.
lead national survey
The median mortgage payment
was $523 over the U.S. averageBy Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.comAccording to the supplemental Census survey, conducted in 2000, the median monthly housing cost in Hawaii was $811 for renters vs. the $646 national average, and $1,674 for mortgage holders vs. $1,151 nationally.
The survey also shows the value of Hawaii homes tops the nation with a median value of $276,313, more than double the national median of $127,692.
Hawaii ranks 48th in the nation for the percentage of homes that are owner-occupied. The survey showed that 56 percent of isle homes are owner-occupied vs. 65.7 percent nationally.
The state is seventh in the nation for median household income at $49,960 and fifth in the nation in the percentage of residents who are foreign born (17 percent) and who speak a language other than English (26.1 percent), according to the survey.
U.S. Census Bureau Director Charles Louis Kincannon is in Hawaii this week to talk about the new annual Census surveys and hear concerns about a shift in policy that will eventually mean doing away with the long form that one in six households fill out every 10 years. Instead, the Census Bureau is moving toward conducting a yearly American Community Survey of 3 million households a year.
The Census Bureau sees the American Community Survey as a "video" that will show changes in communities annually, rather than the "snapshot" provided by the long form every 10 years.
The 2001 supplemental survey was conducted in 872,000 housing units nationwide and 6,556 units in Hawaii in 2000.
Changing the method of collecting survey information also changes results, and that has groups like native Hawaiians concerned because the new method may make it more difficult to collect accurate information about small populations, like native Hawaiians who live outside of Hawaii.
"There's always that concern about participation and for the community to be informed and participate and not be missed or isolated," said Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona, a member of a native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Census advisory committee.
"We're not sure how that's going to affect Hawaiians yet," said Momi Lovell, of Papa OIa Lokahi, an organization that advocates for better native Hawaiian health and also serves as a Census information center.
Jim Dannemiller, president of the market research firm SMS Research, says how the census is conducted will affect decisions about housing, new products, government services and almost all aspects of modern life. The new annual data, he says, will be a big improvement over the long form.
"After the end of 10 years, your trend data is not news," he said. The annual survey will help show changes in how we live with only six months to a year of lag time, he said.
www.census.gov