How much do households in Hawaii spend on rent?
Data updated September 16, 2024
About $1.81K per month, or 33.0% of their income, in 2022. This is measured by comparing median rent and median monthly income for renting households.
Showing data for
In 2022, median rent was
33.0%
of median income
In 2022,
$1.81K
was the median rent per month
Comparing rent to renter income provides one measure of rental affordability. Dividing rent by income provides what is called a rent-to-income ratio. A higher ratio of rent-to-income indicates rent is less affordable while a lower ratio indicates it’s more affordable.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development considers households with a rent-to-income ratio of more than 30%, that is, households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing, to be cost-burdened. Cost-burdened households may have less money for other necessities such as food, healthcare, or savings. When median monthly rent is more than 30% of average monthly income, it means a typical household would meet the definition of housing cost-burdened.
Hawaii's rent-to-income ratio was higher than in the US overall in 2022.
Ratio of median rent to median renter household income
Subscribe to get unbiased, data-driven insights sent to your inbox weekly.
The national rent-to-income ratio reached a high of 33.8% in 2011 following the Great Recession. In Hawaii, the rent-to-income ratio reached 35.6% that year. Most recently, in 2022, Hawaii’s rent-to-income ratio was 33.0%, 1.3 percentage points higher than the national rate.
Across metro areas, the average rent-to-income ratio was 30.8% in 2018–2022.
Ratio of median rent to median renter household income, 2018–2022
In 2018–2022, the average rent-to-income ratio across metro areas was 30.8%. The metro areas with the highest and lowest ratios were the Mayagüez, Puerto Rico area at 56.9% (highest) and Sheboygan, Wisconsin area, at 21.7% (lowest). In Hawaii, the metro areas with the highest and lowest rent-to-income ratios were Urban Honolulu at 33.8% and Kahului at 31.6%, respectively.
During that period, Urban Honolulu, HI area had the highest median rent at $1.98K per month and the highest median monthly income at $5.85K among the two metro areas in Hawaii. It also had the highest rent-to-income ratio in the state.
Renter income and rent, Hawaii metro areas (2018–2022)
| 1. | Kahului, HI area | $5,715 |
| 2. | Urban Honolulu, HI area | $5,850 |
