Hawaii is the most awesome place I’ve ever lived. I stayed for five years on Oahu and just over a year on the island of Maui, Hawaii.
Looking from the mountains toward Kaheohe, Oahu, Hawaii.
Hawaii is still part of the United States of America, yet you might question it as your plane touches down and you step out into the airport. Caucasians are a minority. A tiny minority. Japanese and Filipinos are in much greater numbers. I’ve met people from the mainland, Sweden, England, Germany, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, native Hawaiians, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Thais, Chinese, and Indonesians living in the Hawaiian islands. It’s truly a melting pot of culture.
Hawaii is an awesome place to live for many reasons:
- Hawaii temperatures are ideal. It is never too hot – over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, nor is it ever colder than starting your breath to fog.
- Hawaii has almost constant “trade winds” that keep fresh air blowing in across the island to dispurse whatever pollution might have come from the vehicles.
- The Hawaiian Islands are surrounded by deep blue, powerful ocean. The color is unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere. There is a real power to the ocean here – it’s awesome in it’s power, it’s constant movement.
- Hawaii has awesome things to do. Shopping, walking, picnics, sightseeing, visiting attractions like the volcanoes and historical sights like Pearl Harbor.
- Surfing, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, swimming, sailing, kayaking, snorkeling, diving, hobiecatting, windsurfing, parasailing, parasurfing, and kiteboarding (on skateboards) are all fun activities available if you’re bored.
- Climbing / hiking. There are over 12 mountain ridge hikes on Oahu alone. Peaks over 4,000 feet high are available on Oahu. On Maui you can climb Haleakala volcano up over 10,000 feet if you were inspired.
- Hawaii is so diverse. The people, the food, the things to do, the cultures, the way of life, the whole atmosphere is different from anything you’ve ever experienced.
I could keep going of course, but those are a few amazing and awesome things about Hawaii that endear it to me.
Moving to Oahu, Hawaii or one of the other islands IS possible. If you have $10,000 and some skills to apply to working – you can move today. Book a ticket and leave. That simple.
If you have less, say $5,000 you can still do it – but it will take more planning and some serious skimping before you’re up and running.
I think it’s entirely possible to move to Hawaii with about $3,000 in your pocket. Not joking. Hawaii – Honolulu, Hawaii is like any other big city. There are jobs available.
Hawaii business is focused on a couple things and if you work in one of these areas you can likely move there and find a job quickly:
Tourism – If you want to do sales, answering phones, or working in the hotel industry and have experience you’ll find a job quickly. If you sell condominiums or time-share and want to make your mark in Maui or one of the other islands -there is ample opportunity to do so.
Healthcare – there are lots of aging people on Oahu and the other islands. They need in-home care, but not necessarily nurses. There are many live-in opps for those that want to trade some hours of taking care of a person in need in exchange for a room and sometimes food. There are also plenty of counseling jobs and jobs working with veterans or those that need mental health services. Plenty of jobs.
Construction – there are many jobs working with construction firms – and home renovation firms. People are putting a lot of money into rehabbing their homes and need help. Tilers and roofers are always in demand.
Those with skills they can use online to make $ can move to Hawaii easily. If you can do web development or writing or have some other valuable skills that enable you to cyber-commute you can build up a couple of jobs (gigs) and move. You’ll have money until the projects run out – and by then you’ll have worked hard enough to get more to replenish them and stay in Hawaii.
“The cost of living in Hawaii is what you make it.”
You can easily spend $1,200 for a one bedroom or studio apartment in downtown Honolulu if you want to be close enough to walk or bike to anything you need to get to. Easily spend that. For food you can spend $500 per month for one person – or much more, up to you.
Or, you can learn to live with less and get a room in a house for $400. You could eat on $350 to $400 per month in Hawaii if you’re smart. The Chinese market in the morning on the weekends has lots of fruits and vegetables for reasonable prices. As reasonable as you’re going to find anyway.
For extras you’ll spend another couple hundred… so, you could live in Hawaii for as little as $1,200 per month without a car. Honolulu is a densely packed area that is great for walking around in. You could have a room in Honolulu and walk to work and everywhere else you needed to get to most of the time – supermarket and beach.
If you drink a lot or have some other addiction – like partaking of the nightlife nightly you’re going to add a lot of $ to your monthly expenses. If you want to move to Hawaii and remain in Hawaii you probably will have to suffer for a little while until you build up your income and make enough connections to help you weather the first few months – or even years.
I have a friend that moved to Oahu with virtually nothing. He took a job cold-calling to sell insurance. He did OK, but then he found another friend that appraised property. He trained under him for two years making very little – now he’s an appraiser – certified, and doing fine for himself. He has more work than he can handle.
If you’re willing to sacrifice for a while – you can move to Oahu, Maui, Kauai, or Big Island Hawaii. You CAN.
It’s just a matter of how badly do you want to change your life and move to Hawaii??
Here’s an ad I found in Craigslist for a place to stay for just $250/month.
$250 / 1br – Secluded cabin…but great celphone service! (Kaimu, Hawaii)
Date: 2009-02-02, 10:00AM HST
This cabin has its own solar electricity and shower…with access to a lua (read: outhouse), kitchen & hot shower. Awesome views & privacy!
This is very remote & primative…not for everyone but close to Kehena Beach, Kalani Resort & the active flowing lava.
Excellent celphone & broadband (verizon) service!
Mahalo!!
- Location: Kaimu, Hawaii
Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii Photo credit: Flickr user, vfl2500.
Learn more about Moving to, Living in, and Working in Hawaii:
(this came by email – reposting here so maybe someone else can fill in blanks – correct me – add to the discussion)
Hi Vern,
I just found your article above – thanks for writing it….
I am planning to move to the islands by next month – but am still having a hard time deciding between Maui or the Big Island…
I have not been to either – I have spent time on Oahu and Kauai. Oahu is a bit too expensive for us, and cannot find anything decent for our price range.
Kauai is WAY expensive (although I LOVE Kauai more than anything, and wish I could live there). I also read (not sure if its true) that Kauai has more crime due to a huge drug problem there ? And I also read that on Kauai it will be harder to be accepted by the locals (moving there and vacationing are two different things for sure !)
So that leaves me with Maui or Big Island. I am a single mom with 3 kids – want to pick a place we can afford (cheap) yet safe and fun. I wonder if you have spent any time on the Big Island and your thoughts on it (Hilo vs. Kona ? South coast ?) vs. Maui (Kihei ? Paia ? ) Not sure what would be best.
They both look great – just would like some feedback from someone living there who might be able to shed light on the pros/cons of either.
Do you think there really is a huge price difference between the two?
Is food (groceries to restaurants) going to cost much more on Maui? We are going to rent, looking for something close to $1000.00 a month (I have seen some on craigslist) but they are small 2 bedroom places. If we could get a home to rent think it would be preferable to a condo or apartment.
Well Vern, I hope you can maybe help me with this decision – we need to make a choice and go for it !!!
Mahalo !
Hi and thanks for writing – not sure if you want your name here so I didn’t put it. Just tell me to add it and your email if you want people to be able to contact you directly to help.
Living on Kauai I wouldn’t recommend for too many people. A single mom with 3 kids – probably not. Maui or Big Island… hmmm. No, I’ve not been to Big Isle – so take my comments about that island for what they’re worth – just 2nd hand knowledge. My friend just bought a bed/breakfast there – if your kids are old enough- maybe you’d like to run it for him? Not sure what his plans are – he won’t be on-island much – so maybe he needs someone to watch it?
Big island is remote. It’s hot and dry. About 120,000 residents. SUPER beautiful. I would strongly suggest you join Twitter.com – install tweetdeck.com and learn how to use it to do searches… search for “big island hawaii” and find people (residents) talking about what it’s like to live there.
You mentioned nothing about finances so I’ll assume jobs don’t matter. Maui has many more available I’d think.
I lived on Maui and enjoyed it immensely. I don’t need nightlife… much shopping. I just love the outdoors.
It’s a smaller island, people are friendly… but I hear people are VERY friendly on Big Isle.
For your kids – I wouldn’t have a clue which is better. You make no mention of ages… Kihei seems like a great kids spot – the beaches are Amazing, the water – calm mostly, there are parks – and a large population of foreign kids (from mainland) I don’t know why I say foreign – living in Thailand too long will do that to a person – I consider all americans, foreigners…It would be great if someone living on Big Island or Maui might comment on moving to Hawaii with children and what the challenges were, what the revelations they came to were…
Paia is not really what I’d consider a kid place… rich yuppies, hippies, and rich retired people mostly. I worked in Paia for a while with a dotcommer – great place to work in shorts everyday and go eat at the natural health food store. They made a wicked artichoke covered pizza and tabouleh.
$1,000 per month rent for a 2 bedroom – might only be in south maui – kihei – some parts. I stayed west side and 1100 got us an ohana (mother in law suite) about 400sq feet total. Prices on Big island are CHEEEEP. My friend bought his new place for $140,000 and it has 2 houses on it. Yes, it needs fixing – but, prices are much much less than Maui.
Kauai prices – I’m not sure. I’ve vacationed there plenty – but never lived there. Never lived like a local there. I think there must be some intense localization there and maybe not great for your kids – but, maybe someone can write in about that… I’m really not sure. Yes, Kauai is SO beautiful!
Ok – hope some of this helped. Those living there now can help better – maybe someone will comment… :) Vern
Hi,
My husband and I really want to move to Hawaii with our dog. I’ve already researched the quarantine requirements so that should be fine. My main concern is opportunity for jobs as we would like to move to Kauai. I know being 32 I should want to move to a ‘younger’ island, but we are sick of the city life and love the laid back environment of surf, beach and small town feeling of Kauai. My husband is an IT manager who currently makes over $100K per year, so moving to Kauai would be a sacrifice. I’m wondering if the IT industry in Hawaii is enough to keep him busy working, from the island of Kauai?
For me, I have been working in office management for some time now, but I’m not particularly fussy about where I work. We are coming over with some savings and plan to try it out for at least a year, but I would not want to see us blow our savings in that year because we have not found work.
Thank you – any honest feedback would be appreciated!!
Hi Ingrid,
Thanks for writing! I wish I could be more optimistic for you but work on Kauai is going to be very hard to find and I think you’re going to blow your savings for the year… That’s my honest feedback. There might, might, MIGHT be an IT opportunity for your husband if he knows how to manage a network – server and workstations at a hotel. That’s about it. There might be a military installation on Kauai he could find work at – but, they’ll probably require at least secret clearance and they’re very slow to hire.
I’d guess there are no IT departments bigger than 2-3 people on Kauai, and none that would really require a manager. The sales director or marketing director would probably handle them.
Office management? If you have experience in the tourism industry – yes. If not, it will be tough. I’m guessing you’ve been to Kauai already and know what it’s like. If not you should really go have a look because it’s a VERY small community that doesn’t have many jobs open ever… people with the jobs want to keep them and the companies love to keep them because it’s stable. It’s hard for companies to find workers too. A nice symbiotic relationship…
I hope you reconsider which Island to move to… or, bring more savings, or think of a plan where you can both make money there on your own. I build online businesses – hit me up! (www.incanswers.com).