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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39 responses to “Honolulu dead last in starting pay”
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NONSENSE…
WHAT AN INSIGHTFUL COMMENT. I’D SURE TRUST SOMEONE WHO SAYS “NONSENSE” ON THE INTERNET RATHER THAN AN ACTUAL STUDY. THAT’S SARCASM BTW.
It IS nonsense and anyone who’s not smart enough to figure that out probably makes less than minimum wage.
So you make less than minimum wage? Haha, I made another funny!!!
oNE OF MY PROFESSORS SAYS THAT LOW PAY HAS BEEN PART OF hAWAII FOR 200 YEARS. tHAT IS SAD GIVEN THE HIGH COST OF LIVING. bUT MANY OUT HERE ACCEPT WHAT THEY6 ARE GIVEN AND MANY ARE TOLD THAT THEY ARE LUCKY TO HAVE JOBS AT ALLA S THEY ARE LOW-PRODUCTIVITY WORKERS. iT IS SAD INDEED TO SEE THE RICH MAKE SO MUCH EY EXPROPRIATING MY LABOR AND THE LABOR OF SO MANY OTHERS.
Is your CAPS LOCK broken today allie?
allie lost her glasses.
I have five million and am barely making it here in Hawaii nei.
Do you know anything without “your professor” telling you? Just curious.
what a tool.
Adjusted for cost of living? I thought that saying was reserved for only teachers.
Democrats in charge too long in Hawaii.
Democrats are reason why unemployment is down to near 3% and per capita income is one of the highest in the nation as well as having high number of millionaires (including me). But the best part is how it just pisses the whites off.
Republicans wants to bust the union, and have Main Street work for free.
Thank a teacher or you wouldn’t know how to grumble about them in English.
Federal workers too.
That’s what happens when democrats rule the roost. Look at the states who are on top, certainly not democrats that lead the way.
If you don’t mind being poor, you might as well go on welfare. Same living conditions as a minimum wage worker, without the stress.
Main Street is only going to get worse if the Millenialls insist on hiding behind the smartphone screen, instead of speaking up for your fair share.
I looked on the map. What Main Street are you referring to? Talking points are used when you haven’t a clue.
You could help fill me in, instead of rebutting me.
OK, so Honolulu ranked dead last with a starting pay of $1,367 compared to Brownsville, Texas with a starting salary of $1,727. What does that prove? Brownsville’s unemployment rate is 7.3% compared to 3.8% for Honolulu. Could it be that a higher starting wage results in fewer people being hired? It also is interesting to note that according to Forbes.com, Honolulu’s median household income was $75,312 compared to $35,855 for Brownsville. How did that happen with such a low starting salary?
More households in Honolulu have multiple earners than in Brownsville. Plus not everyone in Honolulu is fresh out of school ready to get their first job.
Dopaco24, on what is your comment based? The average household in Brownsville has 3.62 people whereas the average household in Honolulu has 3.0. That may seem low for Honolulu, but that is what the US Census Bureau says. Here is the link: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/15/15003.html. There is more. The per capita income in Brownsville is $13,556 compared to $30,556 for Honolulu. That should tell you that the high average household income in Honolulu it is not a matter of multiple earners in a household and instead is a matter of working people in Hawaii making significantly more than the workers in Brownsville. We can play with these statistics all day long. My point is that the statistics in the story about Honolulu being last place for starting wages mean nothing except for Democrat politicians who will try to use this data to raise the minimum wage again.
The article refers to ADJUSTED figures. That’s because $75,312 goes nowhere when your house costs $700k, but $35,855 is livable when your house costs $90k. Even at $250k the percentages are more favorable in Brownsville – and for $250k in Brownsville, the house has a deluxe kitchen, formal LR/DR, and a pool. If you’re near the top of the Hawaii wage pyramid, how nice for you – but don’t pretend that the cost of living isn’t crushing for the majority of people who live in the nei.
Starting pay would be higher if our utterly incompetent elected bureaucrats had not run the economy into the ground. They have created endless money pits – union pensions, education, crumbling infrastructure, rail, constant demands by unions for higher pay and bennies. Businesses are tapped out, there is no more money.
As the minimum wage goes higher, companies will shed jobs to reign in rising costs. More automation, fewer people. Just another day in the backwards Nei.
Blame Americans for buying Chinese made goods to save a few cents. Pay a little more for American to keep the money in our country.
I’ll buy wherever I can get the greatest value. I couldn’t care less where they were made. And it’s more than a few cents I’m saving. BTW where do you buy your “American” made products? Are any of your appliances made in America?
Anxiously waiting to see which local restaurant/business will start using robots/iPad in lieu of humans.
I prefer the under aged robots.
Have some distant family in Brownsville. If my memory serves me to be correct, most of the Brownsville people work for the Feds., primarily in border control. If you wanna compare living cost, there is no way Hawaii can even come close. At one time, that was the cheapest place to buy a new American made car. But, its time to cap money going to politicians and Heads of Government. Stop giving free medical and retirement to politicians.All the politicians should get is a parking stall and small office. Maybe use the square building for the Homeless! Just joking!
The cost of living in Hawaii is so high because it’s still a (relatively) desirable place to live. The only solution to the housing cost is to lower the standard/desirability of living here (keep getting rid of greenery, building more eye sores like the rail, allow more and more development and ever worsening traffic, more smog, more crime, expanding slums, ever-increasing freeloaders from Micronesia and drug addicted/mentally ill from the mainland, etc.). Eventually we will be mostly one large concrete slum, and then prices will finally become “affordable.” Congratulations! We just ruined Hawaii. I feel sorry for future generations.
Future generations in Puerto Rico are moving out in droves.
Don’t forget dengue!
Hawaii could be top pay, yet still at the bottom after taxes are taken out of this high tax rate state.
The smart people know what to do to create a comfortable life for themselves. The dum*bos stay in one place all their lives and complain about low wages, high cost of living, and everything else that crosses their feeble mind.
Hawaii is expensive to live in. Hawaii is also expensive to die and bury you at.
yikes!
You talk about Puerto Ricans all leaving not just them but most of Columbia in
Florida you have to make sure your dentist or doctor went to a US school and speaks good English or you are in trouble and BTW they all say they went to US schools.