Metro comparison

Urban Honolulu vs Wildwood

Urban Honolulu, HI and Wildwood-The Villages, FL side by side, cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare and environment, all from the same federal datasets so every number is directly comparable.

43.6
Urban Honolulu Life Score
C
Urban Honolulu grade
71.6
Wildwood Life Score
A+
Wildwood grade

Head-to-head verdict

Across the seven dimensions, Urban Honolulu scores higher on 1 (wages) and Wildwood on 6 (cost of living, rent, safety, schools, childcare, environment). The radar shows the full shape; the tables below break out every figure.

Urban Honolulu vs Wildwood across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall)

Urban Honolulu vs Wildwood across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall) 7-axis radar comparing 2 series across Cost, Wages, Rent, Safety, Schools, Childcare, Environ.. CostWagesRentSafetySchoolsChildcareEnviron. Urban HonoluluWildwood
Urban Honolulu vs Wildwood across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall)

Source: BEA, HUD, BLS, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA As of December 2024

Dimension scorecard

Where each metro wins, and by how much

Every dimension is a national percentile (0–100). Each bar leans toward the stronger metro, a long lean is a decisive edge, a near-even split is a toss-up. The radar shows the overall shape; this shows the per-dimension margins.

◖ Urban Honolulu Wildwood ◗
cost of living
2
98
wages
90
47
rent
3
48
safety
75
83
schools
28
88
childcare
16
46
environment
92
97

Urban Honolulu and Wildwood differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Urban Honolulu has a cost-of-living index of 111.0 vs Wildwood's 85.4 (national average = 100). Median salaries are $73,986 in Urban Honolulu and $63,776 in Wildwood. A 2-bedroom averages $2,642/mo vs $1,328/mo.

How to read this matchup

Reading the Urban Honolulu vs Wildwood Comparison

Urban Honolulu (HI) and Wildwood (FL) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline, BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators, so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 111.0 for Urban Honolulu against 85.4 for Wildwood, a 25.5-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent, the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards, is $2,642/mo in Urban Honolulu and $1,328/mo in Wildwood, a $1,314/mo difference that compounds to $15,768 over a year.

On wages, BLS OES reports a median salary of $73,986 across 420,760 jobs in Urban Honolulu against $63,776 across 34,870 jobs in Wildwood. Adjusted through the BEA cost-of-living lens, $100,000 earned in Urban Honolulu carries the same local purchasing power as $76,986 in Wildwood - the most honest way to read the salary headline, because nominal wages and rents move together in tight metros. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 230.5 per 100,000 residents in HI vs 210.3 in FL, with property-crime rates of 2052.6 and 1030.0 respectively.

Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: HI lists 295 public schools at a 14.1:1 student-teacher ratio, while FL lists 4,029 schools at 17.8:1, a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $15,330/yr in the Urban Honolulu area versus $10,505/yr in Wildwood - a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Urban Honolulu and Wildwood are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" - they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.

Urban Honolulu composite

43.6 /100

Grade C · weighted across 7 dims

Wildwood composite

71.6 /100

Grade A+ · weighted across 7 dims

Cost-of-living gap

25.5 pts

Urban Honolulu vs Wildwood BEA RPP

2-bed rent delta

$1,314 /mo

Urban Honolulu priced higher

Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale

Urban Honolulu

Urban Honolulu composite (Grade C)

Wildwood

Wildwood composite (Grade A+)

Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.

💰 Cost of Living BEA →

Category Urban Honolulu Wildwood
Overall RPP 111.0 85.4
Goods 111.6 96.2
Services 187.3 89.0
Rents 135.5 51.7

Salary Equivalent Calculator

What salary in Wildwood gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Urban Honolulu?

$
Equivalent in Wildwood: $76,986

Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Urban Honolulu: 111.0, Wildwood: 85.4, national avg = 100).

🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) HUD →

Bedrooms Urban Honolulu Wildwood
Studio $1,877/mo $1,076/mo
1 Bedroom $2,016/mo $1,139/mo
2 Bedroom $2,642/mo $1,328/mo
3 Bedroom $3,674/mo $1,655/mo
4 Bedroom $4,432/mo $1,937/mo

💼 Wages & Employment BLS →

Metric Urban Honolulu Wildwood
Avg Median Salary $73,986 $63,776
Total Employment 420,760 34,870

🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) FBI →

Crime Type (per 100K) Urban Honolulu (HI) Wildwood (FL)
Violent Crime 230.5 210.3
Property Crime 2052.6 1030.0

🎓 Schools (state-level) NCES →

Metric HI FL
Total Schools 295 4,029
Student-Teacher Ratio 14.1:1 17.8:1
Charter Schools 12.5% 17.9%

👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) DOL →

Age Group HI FL
Infant (Center) $15,330/yr $10,505/yr
Toddler (Center) $10,845/yr $8,611/yr
Preschool (Center) $10,845/yr $7,983/yr

🌿 Environment (state-level) EPA →

Metric HI FL
EPA Facilities 38 864
Water Systems 118 1,516
Superfund Sites 4 81
Water Violations 29 2,676
Government-verified data - Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.

💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) EPA AQS →

Metric Urban Honolulu Wildwood
Median AQI 31.0 41.0
Good Air Days 98.4% 76.6%
Unhealthy Air Days 0 days N/A

Wildwood air quality shown at state level. Urban Honolulu has metro-level data.

💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) EPA SDWIS →

Metric HI FL
Water Safety Score 25/100 9/100
Total Violations 5,234 184,355
Health-Based Violations 2,289 24,266
Systems with Violations 80.3% 93.2%

🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) HRSA →

Metric HI FL
Healthcare Access Score 0/100 0/100
Population in Shortage Area 100.0% 100.0%
HPSA Designations 97 612

HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.

⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) FEMA NRI →

Metric HI FL
Disaster Safety Score 30/100 29/100
NRI Risk Score (avg county) 75.0 75.7
Expected Annual Loss Score 75.4 72.9

FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Urban Honolulu more expensive than Wildwood?
Urban Honolulu has a cost of living index of 111.0 compared to Wildwood's 85.4 (national average = 100). Urban Honolulu is 25.5 points above Wildwood on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Urban Honolulu and Wildwood?
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $2,642/mo in Urban Honolulu vs $1,328/mo in Wildwood, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $1,877/mo to $1,076/mo.
How do salaries compare between Urban Honolulu and Wildwood?
The average median salary across all occupations is $73,986 in Urban Honolulu and $63,776 in Wildwood, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. After adjusting for cost of living, $100,000 in Urban Honolulu has the same purchasing power as $76,986 in Wildwood.
Is Urban Honolulu or Wildwood safer?
At the state level, HI has a violent crime rate of 230.5 per 100,000 residents compared to FL's 210.3 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 2052.6 vs 1030.0 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Urban Honolulu and Wildwood?
HI has 295 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 14.1:1, while FL has 4,029 schools at 17.8:1. Charter schools make up 12.5% of HI schools vs 17.9% in FL. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from?
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Disclaimer: This comparison is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or relocation advice. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial