Some People Leave Hawaii For Good. Others Can’t Imagine Ever Leaving.

Some people come to Hawaii and spend the flight home wondering how soon they can get back or booking the next trip. Others eventually stop buying round-trip tickets and move here. Then there are people who build a life in Hawaii and, after years or decades, decide they need to leave.

What makes that especially interesting is that they may all be reacting to many of the same things. Hawaii is beautiful, and it can be isolated, expensive, welcoming, frustrating, and difficult all at once. Knowing more about it doesn’t necessarily settle any of it. Sometimes it just makes the choice more personal.

That tension surfaced in the comments on our recent story about how Hawaii recovers when island storms disrupt travel and daily life. Frank, Alex, and Eva are very familiar names at Beat of Hawaii, with roughly 1,100 comments among them. Their exchange caught our attention because three longtime readers, responding to the same set of realities, arrived at strikingly different conclusions about living in Hawaii.

The same Hawaii can lead to opposite decisions.

Frank’s conclusion was stark: “If you want to live in a state with limited resources in the event of a catastrophic natural disaster, move to Hawaii.” His point was clear.

Another commenter, however, had worried about something different. Healthcare access had reached the point where Alex feared having to eventually leave Hawaii. Then after joining Kaiser, the experience changed, and so did the calculation about staying.

Eva looked at Hawaii through yet another lens. She compared its recovery after a hurricane with what she had seen years later in the Virgin Islands and came away with a conclusion that sounds simple but carries more weight in this context: “Hawaii is not for everyone.”

None of them was denying Hawaii’s limitations. What differed was how much those limitations counted against everything else they encountered in the islands.

A lot of people have already voted by leaving Hawaii.

A recent UHERO analysis of why Hawaii residents keep leaving for the continent found that in 23 of the past 25 years, more Hawaii residents moved to the continental U.S. than came the other direction. High prices combined with comparatively modest incomes are among the forces behind that persistent outmigration.

The pressures go beyond money. Healthcare choices can be limited, family may be thousands of miles away, and Hawaii’s dependence on shipping and air travel becomes especially obvious when storms or other disruptions hit. For some residents, eventually there is one drawback too many.

For others, those aren’t discoveries at all. They’re simply part of the bargain they already know they’re making here.

Beat of Hawaii editors have lived in Hawaii for many years.

Jeff has been here in Hawaii most of his life, while Rob has been here for the past quarter century. With all the limitations of living in Hawaii, including the lack of Trader Joe’s, it still works. We both feel connected to the islands and this way of life. It’s not for everyone, but when we leave for work or other reasons, we quickly realize our place is here in Hawaii. The weather, the culture, the ocean, the people, and the reporting we do, make those limitations feel far less significant. Yes, there are more options on the mainland and places to drive to, but BOH’s heart is here.

Visitors sometimes test that bargain too.

We regularly hear from repeat Hawaii visitors whose attachment to the islands keeps bringing them back, and who say that leaving affects them far more than the typical end-of-vacation letdown. Some return year after year and begin wondering whether the feeling they’re always chasing is telling them they should actually live here.

One repeat visitor recently decided to find out. After five trips to Hawaii, they spent a month on Oahu specifically to test everyday life, renting a condo and trying not to treat the stay as an extended vacation. Instead of confirming the dream, the experiment changed their mind about moving.

In their example, nothing dramatic had to happen. The difference between loving Hawaii as a repeat visitor and wanting an ordinary life here was enough.

It also shows why this isn’t really a story about whether Hawaii is “worth it” or not. The more interesting question is why familiarity pushes people in opposite directions. Some learn more and feel the pull weaken. Others learn more and feel even more certain Hawaii is for them.

That applies to residents and visitors both, but in different ways. The underlying tension is similar. There are people who leave Hawaii because practical life becomes too difficult, and others who leave after a vacation who are already thinking about the next return. There are also people who once imagined moving here and, after seeing more clearly what actually moving to Hawaii takes, decide they are happier keeping Hawaii the happy place they visit.

“Hawaii is not for everyone” sounds obvious until you realize how many different things it can actually mean.

For one person, it can mean the limits here are too much. For another, it can mean those same limits are real but acceptable. And for a visitor, it may mean understanding that loving Hawaii deeply doesn’t automatically mean wanting to live here permanently.

That’s where this conversation lands for us. Not with a verdict, and not with a list of reasons to stay or leave, but with something less tidy and probably more honest: people can know Hawaii better and still come away wanting completely different things from it.

What has your experience with Hawaii taught you: has knowing the islands better made you want to stay, leave, move here, or simply keep coming back?

By Rob and Jeff, Beat of Hawaii.

Some of the most meaningful parts of Hawaii are the ones visitors walk right past without knowing they are there. We’ve spent nearly 20 years finding them firsthand for BOH as full-time Hawaii residents reporting on travel, culture, and island life, and telling you what they mean for your trip. Join us →