Profile of Hawaii’s Veterans

Statistics on local veterans that may surprise you

2014 numbers compiled by the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics:

Race and Ethnicity

• 30.2 percent of Hawaii’s veterans are Asian. The next highest state or territory, California, has a mere 6.2 percent.
• 40.5 percent of Hawaii’s veterans are white, the second lowest percentage in the country after the District of Columbia.
• 6.5 percent of Hawaii’s veterans are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The next highest percentage comes from the ninth Hawaiian island, Nevada, where 0.8 percent of veterans are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
• 14.8 percent of Hawaii’s veterans have ancestry in two or more races, the highest percentage of any state or territory.

Gender

• 10.4 percent of our veterans are female, the sixth highest rate in the U.S.

Education

• Hawaii is tied for sixth for most educated veterans, and the vast majority have some college or a college degree; 41.3 percent of Hawaii’s veterans completed some college and 31.3 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Economics and more

• The state’s veterans are close to average in terms of unemployment (4.6 percent) and poverty (6.3 percent), but the percentage of disabled veterans is the second lowest in the country (22.6 percent).
• Despite a fairly average poverty rate, veterans in Hawaii have the third-highest median income in the country at $45,518.