Metro Life Score
Urban Honolulu, HI
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade F, 3rd percentile of the national corpus.
- 35.6
- Life Score / 100
- F
- Grade (curved)
- #376
- of 387 metros
- 3%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
Urban Honolulu is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #376 of 387 (35.6/100, grade F, 3rd percentile). Carried by wages at 87/100; held back most by cost of living at 2/100.
- 3rd
- composite percentile
- #376
- of 387 peers
- 2nd
- cost dimension percentile
- 87th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · signature cost
Urban Honolulu: cost pressure is the outlier
Urban Honolulu is a BOTTOM-band metro where cost sits only at the 2nd percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 87th and composite #376. Cost of Living (2/100) is the main drag; Wages (87/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Urban Honolulu, HI ranks #376 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #380 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 111.0 (rent-RPP 135.5). BLS median salary $73,986, 420,760 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons, Registered Nurses). HUD 2BR FMR $2,642/mo (studio $1,877).
FBI UCR (HI): 230 violent, 2053 property/100K. NCES: 13.8:1 ratio, 12.5% charter. DOL infant childcare $15,330/yr. EPA: 4 Superfund sites (HI).
Where Urban Honolulu sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
36 3rd percentile higher than 3% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. 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 · August 2026
How the 35.6 is built
Urban Honolulu's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Urban Honolulu scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are HI state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Urban Honolulu With...
Ranking Context
Urban Honolulu outranks 3% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #373 | Amherst Town-Northampton, MA | 35.9 | D |
| #374 | Barnstable Town, MA | 36.2 | D |
| #375 | Lexington Park, MD | 36.3 | D |
| #376 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 35.6 | F |
| #377 | Kahului-Wailuku, HI | 35.4 | F |
| #378 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 35.4 | F |
| #379 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 35.2 | F |
Quality vs. Affordability
Urban Honolulu, HI's quality rank (bottom 3% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 2% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
HI Metro Scores
Read with Urban Honolulu
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Urban Honolulu (BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Kahului-Wailuku, HI
ABS(composite) peer at 35.4 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
ABS(composite) peer at 35.4 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA
ABS(composite) peer at 35.9 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
ABS(composite) peer at 35.2 (Δ 0.4 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 2/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 2/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Urban Honolulu, HI relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Urban Honolulu's bottom-third Life Score
Urban Honolulu scores 35.6/100 overall, but Wages (87.3) and Cost of Living (1.8) sit 85.5 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Wages is the strongest of Urban Honolulu's seven dimensions (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Cost of Living is the weakest (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Kahului is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Kahului
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.