Residents leaving Hawaii for California, Nevada

Hawaii has one of the highest rates of outmigration — residents moving to other states — in the nation, second only to Washington, D.C., according to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The report found that over 200,000 islanders moved across the Pacific to mostly western states like California, Nevada, and Washington, a rate of more than 65 people for every 1,000 residents, between 1995 and 2000.

About 125,000 people from elsewhere moved to Hawaii during that period, making for a net outmigration of 76,133 people.

While over 44,000 people moved to California from Hawaii, over 32,000 moved to Hawaii from California, making the Golden State both the islands’ largest source and destination of relocating residents.

Not surprisingly, when net migration numbers are calculated, Hawaii had the highest ratio of departures to arrivals with the state of Nevada. More than 12,000 people moved from Hawaii to Nevada, but only 1,800 people came the other way.

“The flow of migrants from Hawaii to Nevada was an amazing six times the size of the reverse flow,” the report states. “Hawaii’s economic downturn in the mid-1990s and Nevada’s fast-growing economy may have been important factors in shaping this particularly lopsided migration pattern.”

Overall outmigration from Hawaii was largely to California, Florida, Nevada, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. The largest net outmigration
from Hawaii was to California, Nevada, and Washington.