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Honolulu dead last in starting pay

Starting pay in Honolulu is the worst in the nation, according to a new study by personal finance site WalletHub.com.

In researching the best U.S. cities in which to find a job, analysts found that employers in Honolulu offer the lowest median starting pay, adjusted for cost of living, of the 150 markets studied. The pay was $1,367, based on 2014 U.S. Census Bureau figures and not including the recently mandated increase in minimum wage. Honolulu ranked behind Brownsville, Texas, with median starting salary at $1,727, and the $1,755 paid in Santa Rosa, Calif.

In the WalletHub Highest Housing Affordability ranking, Honolulu is third-worst in the U.S., at No. 148 out of 150 behind Newark, N.J. and Miami, Fla., respectively. WalletHub calculated the median annual family income, divided by housing costs, accounting for both home prices and rental costs. Plano Texas was ranked the best for housing affordability. Researchers used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to achieve the rankings.

Honolulu’s score in the main point of the study as a potential market in which to find a job, is at an overall rank of 90, with a job market rank of 92 and a socioeconomic environment rank of 84.

Plano, Texas, has the top overall rank, while the top job market ranking belongs to Irving, Texas, and for socioeconomic environment ranking, the top score went to Boise, Idaho.

For the Housing Affordability key metric we calculated the median annual family income divided by housing costs; accounting for both rent and house prices. Honolulu ranked 3rd worst, Newark second worst and Miami was last, while Plano ranked 1st. The data used to create this ranking was obtained from CENSUS and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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