How does Hawaii get groceries?

Hawaii has a significant and diverse agricultural history, according to Catarina Zaragoza-Dodge, co-owner of The Locavore Store in Hilo. But today, Hawaii imports 90 percent of its food—much of it from the mainland United States. “Twenty years ago, this was not the case,” Zaragoza-Dodge says.



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Additionally, studies have shown that Hawai?i can become self-sustaining with proper land management and usage. According to Brittany Lyte, an author at Civil Beat, only 6% of Hawai?i?s land could have produced more than a million metric tons of food, enough to Hawai?i?s population of 1.2 million pre 1777.

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The rest arrives on huge container ships, putting the state in peril every time there's a hurricane or shipping strike, such as in 2012, when a California port strike led to bare store shelves in Hawaii. University studies have estimated there's only an 11-day supply of food in the state at any given time.

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It's important to understand that food in Hawaii isn't unnecessarily expensive; there's a reason why so many dishes and foods have large price tags attached to them. Most of the food in the state is imported from the mainland, which means there are more costs that go into that.

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The truth is, Hawaii is consistently ranked as the most expensive state in the United States due to high housing, energy, transportation and food costs.

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Hawaii ranked the highest out of all 50 states and Washington, D.C., in state health care system performance in 2022, according to a study from the Commonwealth Fund. The Aloha State was also deemed the best state for health care in the nation in a U.S. News and World Report analysis published last year.

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Hawaii's No. 1 ranking comes from various factors, including a relatively low obesity rate, a large percentage of adults engaging in leisure-time physical activites, a relatively low percentage of adults with high cholesterol and good eating habits.

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Cost of Living The most obvious drawback to living in Hawaii is our cost of living. Because everything needs to be imported, the cost of goods is significantly higher than any mainland market.

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What's the most affordable Hawaiian island to live on? The Big Island. With Hawaii's lowest average cost of living (according to MIT's Living Wage project), lowest fair market rents, and lowest typical yearly expenses, the Big Island can be the most economical island in Hawaii.

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Retail Sales Workers topped the list with 42,445 jobs in 2016, or 5.9 percent of total civilian jobs, followed by Food and Beverage Serving Workers (40,775 or 5.7 percent) and Construction Trades Workers (34,137 or 4.8 percent). Compared with the nation, four out of the top five occupations are the same.

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