The State of Safety in Hawaii 2020

People in The Aloha State are more concerned about their safety than most other Americans. Our 2020 State of Safety report revealed that 56% who call the islands home are worrying about safety and security every day—that’s 10 percentage points higher than the national average.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

Property crime is more prevalent in Hawaii, though. The state’s property crime rate (28.7) is nearly seven points higher than the national rate (22.0). There was also a slight increase year over year, moving up from 28.4 last year.

Both levels of concern and personal experience with crime increased year over year in Hawaii, but the state’s crime rates don’t reflect a significant increase in crime. Hawaii’s violent crime rate is 2.5 incidents per 1,000 people, which is below the national rate of 3.7. That rate remained steady year over year, with no increase or decrease.

Violent Crime in Hawaii: Fear vs. Reality

Being robbed in the street is the top violent crime fear in The Aloha State. It’s also the crime that survey participants feel is most likely to happen to them.

• 51% named robbery as the violent crime they worry about the most, compared to 38% across the US.
• 34% think they are most likely to fall victim to being robbed on the street over any other violent crime—27% of people nationwide agree.
• Robbery accounted for 27% of all violent crime reported in Hawaii, making it the second most prevalent violent crime.
• Aggravated assault was the most commonly reported violent crime, accounting for 55% of all violent crime.
• 46% of respondents said they were most concerned about physical assault by a stranger, and 26% felt it was the crime most likely to happen to them.
• 11% reported a personal experience with violent crime over the past 12 months, up from 7% in 2019. Across the country, 12% reported a recent experience with violent crime.
• 4% revealed that they, or someone they know, has been personally affected by a mass shooting at some point in their lives, versus 7% nationwide.
• There were no mass shooting incidents in Hawaii between 2014 and 2019. There were 2,087 mass shooting incidents across the country during the same time period.

Property Crime in Hawaii: Fear vs. Reality

Hawaiians are more concerned about digital property being stolen than any other property crime, despite the fact that the state has higher property crime rates than the national average.

• 61% are highly concerned about digital property (like photos or files) being stolen, versus 52% across the country.
• Digital security was also the biggest safety concern in the state last year.
• 38% named digital property theft as the property crime that’s most likely to actually happen, compared to 36% nationwide.
• Larceny-theft was the most prevalent property crime in Hawaii, making up 72% of all reported property crime.
• Despite a higher property crime rate, only 24% reported a personal experience with property crime in the past 12 months, compared to 26% nationally.
• Just 19% of Hawaiians use a security system to protect their home, compared to 24% nationwide.
• Security cameras are the most common security measure taken in Hawaii, with 24% of respondents using them. Nationwide, 25% use security cameras.
• 43% of participants said they don’t use any safety or security measure to protect their property—that’s 14 percentage points below the national average of 29%.
• Burglary made up 14% of all property crime reported.

Hawaii’s Safest Cities 2020

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 don’t have a ranking of safest cities for Hawaii due to limited information reported to the FBI. Honolulu was the only city to provide data for criminal offenses in 2018. Honolulu’s crime rates are listed below.

VC = Violent Crime
PC = Property Crime

How to Make a Safe Home Anywhere

Whether your city made our list or not, we recommend adding extra security to your home with monitored security services provided by the nation’s leading home security providers.

To learn more about your home security options, check out SafeWise’s picks for Best Home Security Systems.

Sources

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, “2018 Crime in the United States”
SafeWise, “2020 State of Safety”
BestPlaces, “Find a Place Search Tool”

Mass Shooting Definition:
SafeWise uses the GVA definition of a mass shooting: “If four or more people are shot or killed in a single incident, not involving the shooter, that incident is categorized as a mass shooting based purely on that numerical threshold.”