7 Fascinating Facts from the Hawai‘i State Data Book

Death, taxes, tourists and other data about Hawai‘i, then and now.

The annual state Data Book is a local treasure: The numbers inside tell us much about where Hawai‘i and its people are now and how we got here.

Here are just a few of the things I found interesting and revealing in the Data Books, which are all online beginning with the 1967 edition, and other sources.

Population 

• After the Japanese attack on military bases around O‘ahu on Dec. 7, 1941, Hawai‘i became America’s headquarters for the war in the Pacific. In 1944, the territory’s military population peaked at 406,811, almost as much as the civilian population of 452,134. That year’s combined population would not be surpassed until 1974.

• With the exception of one year (1999), Hawai‘i’s civilian population grew every year from 1953 to 2018. But the civilian population shrank by several thousand in five of the six years since.

• The biggest reason for those decades of local population growth: Births far outpaced deaths. For instance, in 1958, there were more than five births for every death in Hawai‘i. But the ratio slowly fell and in 2023, there were 1,903 births and 1,872 deaths. The resulting ratio of 1.02-to-1.00 is the lowest recorded.

Government 

• In 1960, the Employees’ Retirement System for state and county workers had 24,092 members and 1,971 pensioners and beneficiaries – for a ratio of more than 12-to-1. Last year, there were 73,240 members and 54,973 pensioners and beneficiaries – a ratio of 1.33-to-1.

• In 1960, the year after Hawai‘i became a state, tax collections by the state and counties totaled $155.1 million. The population in the Islands that year was 641,500, so the per capita tax was $241.78. Using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI inflation calculator, that would be equivalent to $2,229.95 in July 2021 dollars.

• In 2021, the last year for which I could find combined numbers, state and county tax collections totaled $11.22 billion. Based on the state population that year, the per capita tax was $7,758.49.

• Interestingly, the proportionate size of the overall government workforce in Hawai‘i was essentially the same in those two years: 22.01% of the state’s civilian labor force in 1960 and 22.67% in 2021.

Tourism 

• Japanese visitors used to outspend U.S. mainlanders almost 3 to 1. For example, in 1974, the first year for which the Data Book provides numbers, the average Japanese tourist spent $123 a day in Hawai‘i and the average mainlander spent $46.

Today, there is little difference between the two groups, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. In the first half of 2024, the average Japanese visitor spent $239 per day. In the same period, visitors from the U.S. East spent more – $267 on average per day – and U.S. West visitors spent a little less, $233.