Hawaii has been in a funk. A huge swath of locals are talking about it, from drivers to barkeeps to wonks to business owners to clergy, the Washington Examiner found early this year while visiting the most populous of the state’s eight main islands, Oahu, home of capital city of Honolulu .
Throughout the island chain, the locals are being priced out of paradise, through higher housing , higher food prices , higher insurance premiums , the high cost of cleanup and rebuilding after fire and high winds destroyed the town of Lahaina in August 2023, higher everything.
“We have to import everything here, and the cost is ridiculous,” Wanda Shipp, resident of Oahu, dual American-Canadian citizen, and for many years the business partner of local comedian Bo Irvine, told the Washington Examiner. She said this on the grounds of the Hale Koa Hotel. Irvine did a popular show for many years before coronavirus lockdowns shuttered it.
Even when things can be made locally, the shipping of ingredients adds up. Hawaii had the highest price of a loaf of bread in all 50 states in 2023, at $5.98 a loaf, according to Zippia. Its closest competitor was California, at $4.03 a loaf. The average price nationally that year was $2.50.