According to the Economic Innovation Group, a non-profit organization that evaluated economic distress throughout the states, Hawaii has the fifth lowest percentage of income disparity in the nation. It’s a remarkable feat, considering that 25,000 zip codes were studied to gather this information.
The study revealed income disparity by the percentages, creating a Distressed Community Index based on seven factors. These were the poverty rate, the number of adults without high school degrees, the number of unemployed adults, the amount of vacant homes, the amount of business, job opportunities and the median income of the zip code compared to the state’s median income.
In Hawaii, only one percent of the 1,392,700 residents were living in a distressed zip code, while 13 percent were living in prosperous zip codes. If you’ve been exploring Maui real estate at various locations, you probably won’t be too surprised about the findings of this report, although Maui is just one of the main islands in the state.
For the bottom fifth of the nation’s distressed zip codes, the median income was about 68 percent of the state’s median, with 27 percent of adults in poverty. By comparison, Hawaii’s lowest median income zip codes were the same as the state’s median income. Only 11 percent of adults were in poverty.
Although Hawaii performed extremely well in this regard, there’s always room for improvement. In the meantime, as you search for Maui real estate, you can enjoy some confidence in the appeal of the various neighborhoods around the island. If you need assistance finding the right property in the right location, you’ll find our contact information at the bottom of the page. Mahalo!
