The State of Safety in Hawaii 2022

The SafeWise team is pleased to release the fourth annual State of Safety report.

Despite reporting lower experiences with violent crime and a low statewide violent crime rate, Hawaiians are more worried about crime and safety than most other Americans. Hawaii’s level of daily concern is 12 points higher than the national average of 47%—and the state’s overall concern has grown every year we’ve conducted our survey.

• Violent crime rates
• Property crime rates
• The Safest Cities
• Methodology
• How to make a safe home anywhere
• How other states compare

Hawaii’s violent crime rate of 2.5 incidents per 1,000 people is lower than the national rate of 4.0 and it’s one point lower than what the state reported last year (2.6). Hawaii is one of only 15 states to see a decrease in violent crime year over year, bucking the national trend of rising violent crime.

The property crime rate in The Aloha State continues to be higher than both national and regional rates, although it dropped statewide year over year. Between our 2021 and 2022 reports, the property crime rate fell 17%, from 28.7 incidents per 1,000 to 24.1. Despite that decrease, Hawaii reports over four more property crime incidents per capita than the nationwide average.

Hawaii is more concerned about nearly every crime issue than most Americans. The outlier is gun violence—35% of Hawaiians worry about gun violence happening to them (vs. a 38% national average).

Despite heightened levels of concern, experiences with crime reported in our latest State of Safety survey held steady or dropped across the board year over year. Experience with violent crime fell 55% and property crime experiences dropped 25% between reporting years. Experience with gun violence remained unchanged at 4%, which is half of the national average of 8%.

General property crime was the biggest concern in Hawaii, with package theft coming in as the second-most-concerning crime issue (49% versus 45% nationally) in Hawaii, but fewer residents were victims of porch pirates (16% versus 20% nationally).

We asked Hawaii residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Hawaiians are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

Violent crime is consistently lower in Hawaii than the national average, and the Aloha State is one of only 15 states to see a drop in violent crime incidents per capita this year.

• Daily concern about violent crime is 4 percentage points higher than the national average in Hawaii, but both self-reported personal experience and the FBI violent crime rate are below national averages.
• Aggravated assault is the most common violent crime and makes up 59% of all violent crime in Hawaii, compared to 70% nationwide.
• Robberies account for 24% of all violent crime statewide, compared to 19% nationally.
• Murder makes up 1% of all violent crime in Hawaii, proprotionately lower than the rest of the US (2%).
• Counts of rape are 6 points higher than what was reported nationwide. Rape accounts for 16% of all reported violent crime in Hawaii, versus 10% nationwide.

• 41% named gun violence their top safety concern, compared to 53% across the country.
• For the third consecutive year, Hawaii hasn’t seen any mass shooting incidents, making it one of only five states without any mass shootings recorded between 2019 and 2021.
• 32% of survey respondents use some kind of personal protection, with pepper spray being used most often. Nationwide, 34% of respondents carry a personal protection device.
• 60% say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic—36% more than the rest of the US.

Property crime decreased year over year in The Aloha State, but it’s the most concerning crime issue for Hawaiians.

• Experience with property crime fell from 24% to 18%, which matches the national average.
• Property crime fell from 28.7 incidents per 1,000 people to 24.1.
• Larceny-theft is the most common property crime, making up 71% of all property crime incidents, which matches the US average.
• Burglaries are less common in Hawaii, accounting for 14% of all property crime compared to 16% nationwide.
• Hawaii saw a rise in motor vehicle thefts, coinciding with countrywide pandemic crime trends. Car thefts made up 16% of all property crimes, compared to 13% nationwide.
• 66% of survey respondents use some kind of measure to protect their property (US 60%), and security systems are used most often (33% versus 25% nationally).
• 33% say the security of their property has been affected by the pandemic (US 29%).

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

We couldn’t rank the safest cities in Hawaii this year due to limited information reported to the FBI. Statewide crime rates are detailed below.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. One of the best ways to stop a burglary before it happens is to add a home security system.

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Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
• Best Video Doorbell Cameras
• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Crime Data Explorer, Accessed March 8, 2022.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed January 24, 2022.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2022.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.