By Michael Levine

Hawaii is a place where being "local" can seem important.

But fewer residents are making the cut.

A smaller proportion of island residents can say they were born in the state than could make that claim 10 years ago, according to a Civil Beat analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The state saw the third biggest decline in the nation.

All four counties and the majority of communities — 93 of 131 towns — saw the percentage of Hawaii-born residents go down over the past 10 years. Local populations in Maalaea and Kapalua on Maui dropped by more than half, though both of those had very small local-born populations to begin with and had seen increases between the 1990 Census and 2000 Census, throwing some doubt on the numbers.

Paia, also on Maui, saw its Hawaii-born population dip from 59 percent of residents in 2000 to 33.1 percent of residents in 2009. Not far away, Hana has remained one of the most local towns in Hawaii.

Geography	Island	2009 Percent	Rank	2000 Percent	Rank	Percent Change
Pakala Village	Kauai	93.4%	1	94.2%	1	-0.8%
Maunaloa	Molokai	91.9%	2	72.7%	28	+26.4%
Hana	Maui	89.6%	3	86.5%	3	+3.6%
Waimanalo Beach	Oahu	88.4%	4	87.7%	2	+0.9%
Waikane	Oahu	87.2%	5	82.1%	8	+6.2%
...	...	...	...	...	...	...
Wheeler Air Force Base	Oahu	9.9%	127	13.0%	126	-24.4%
Kaneohe Station	Oahu	9.5%	128	7.8%	129	21.4%
Schofield Barracks	Oahu	8.8%	129	7.6%	130	14.8%
Maalaea	Maui	6.5%	130	13.9%	125	-52.9%
Hickam Housing	Oahu	5.7%	131	8.4%	128	-31.6%

Source: Civil Beat analysis of American Community Survey Data — Full Table

The data for all of Hawaii's small towns was made available in mid-December for the first time in a decade as part of the American Community Survey. Compiled over five years, between 2005 and 2009, the survey replaces the long-form Census questionnaire that had supplied demographic information dating back decades¹. It will be updated annually going forward.

The survey also shows that slightly more than half of Hawaii's citizens — 54 percent, to be exact — were born in the state. Hawaii's mark is 33rd of 50 states, placing it just above historically transient California. And despite the fact that some Hawaii families measure their time here not in years but in generations, the state actually has a lower proportion of local-born residents than the United States as a whole.

State	Percent born in state of residence	Rank
Louisiana	79.2%	1
Michigan	76.0%	2
Pennsylvania	75.2%	3
...	...	...
Montana	54.4%	32
Hawaii	54.0%	33
California	52.9%	34
...	...	...
Arizona	36.2%	48
Florida	34.2%	49
Nevada	23.2%	50

Source: Civil Beat analysis of American Community Survey Data — Full Table

A decade ago, Hawaii ranked 32nd with its 56.9-percent mark. Hawaii's 5 percent reduction was the third largest in the country behind only South Carolina and North Carolina. Ten states increased the percentage of local-born residents. Because California was among them, the West Region increased the share of local-born residents.

Region	2009 Percent	2000 Percent	Percent Change
United States	59.0%	60.0%	-1.6%
Northeast Region	63.6%	65.2%	-2.3%
Midwest Region	70.3%	70.9%	-0.8%
South Region	56.4%	58.1%	-3.0%
West Region	48.6%	47.3%	+2.8%

Source: Civil Beat analysis of American Community Survey Data

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¹ Smaller geographies and smaller sample sizes create significant margins of error. Data from the 2000 and 1990 Censuses do not include margins of error. All data should be taken with a grain of salt, Census Director Robert Groves said in his blog the day the data was released. 

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