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State Life Score

Hawaii

Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade F, 2nd percentile of the national corpus.

31.5
Life Score / 100
F
Grade (curved)
#50
of 51 states
2%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Hawaii is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #50 of 51 (31.5/100, grade F, 2nd percentile). Carried by safety at 74/100; held back most by rent at 0/100.

2nd
composite percentile
#50
of 51 peers
2nd
cost dimension percentile
65th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · BOTTOM · SAFE-LED

Hawaii at a glance

Hawaii is a BOTTOM-band SAFE-LED state: safety leads at 74/100 while rent drags at 0/100 (CEILING cost · HIGH wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Hawaii ranks #50 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #50 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Hawaii sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

32 2nd percentile higher than 2% of 51 US states

25–30: 1 US states (2%). Below this entry. 30–35: 2 US states (4%). This entry sits in this band. 35–40: 4 US states (8%). Above this entry. 40–45: 6 US states (12%). Above this entry. 45–50: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 50–55: 12 US states (24%). Above this entry. 55–60: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 60–65: 4 US states (8%). Above this entry. 65–70: 2 US states (4%). Above this entry. This state 25 70 every US state, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data

Dimension detail

How Hawaii scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 2/100 (20%)
Wages 66/100 (20%)
Rent 0/100 (15%)
Safety 74/100 (15%)
Schools 48/100 (10%)
Childcare 18/100 (10%)
Environment 2/100 (10%)

Read with Hawaii

Nearest composite peers and cost poles (BOTTOM · CEILING/HIGH).

Massachusetts

ABS(composite) peer at 33.4 (Δ 1.9 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · CEILING/HIGH.

District of Columbia

ABS(composite) peer at 26.8 (Δ 4.7 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · CEILING/HIGH.

Maryland

ABS(composite) peer at 37.3 (Δ 5.8 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · CEILING/HIGH.

New York

ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 6.7 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · CEILING/HIGH.

California (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 0/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CEILING vs this state's CEILING.

New Jersey (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 6/100 (Δ 4); cost stamp CEILING vs this state's CEILING.
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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