📉Imagine... Truth in Every Number📉
💡 Imagined Endstate:
A future where Hawai‘i’s measures of well‑being go beyond wages, where poverty is seen in layers: health, education, housing, and dignity. Where policy treats all dimensions of poverty with equal weight so no life is invisible.
📚 Source:
Inafuku, R. (2025, August 12). Why Hawai‘i Has Less Inequality Than You’d Think. UHERO. Link,
💥 What’s the Big Deal:
Hawai‘i’s Gini coefficient in 2023 was 0.42, placing it among the least unequal states in the U.S., despite one of the highest costs of living in the country. This is due in part to a compressed income structure: low‑ and mid‑wage tourism jobs, relatively generous compensation for those jobs, fewer high‑end tech and finance roles, and a tendency for high‑earning professionals to accept lower salaries in exchange for the life, culture, and climate of the islands🏝.
But income alone sketches only part of the picture. A Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which accounts for access to health, education, housing quality, cost‑burden, and other non‑income deprivationswould reveal deeper inequalities that Gini misses. MPI could show how many households are poor not just in income, but also in housing instability, healthcare access🏥, or educational opportunity. In Hawai‘i, many people may appear “middle income” but still struggle with skyrocketing housing costs, limited educational or healthcare access in rural parts, and intergenerational gaps.
Using MPI would ensure policy responds to where help is most needed, not just where incomes diverge. It would uplift social equity⚖️, clarify trade‑offs, and ensure that a promise of “less inequality” doesn’t mean masking hidden hardship. Hawai‘i deserves statistics that reflect full reality, not just comfortable averages.
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