Oahu Facts

Let’s investigate some interesting Oahu Facts…

The Hawaiian Islands claimed title as the 50th state of the United States of A merica on August 21, 1959. My first taste of Oahu was just 3 years later when I attended 1st grade at Chester W. Nimitz School… lucky me!

To this day you can still hear US citizens visiting the islands saying t

hey are going back to the States when they go home!

Honolulu… Hawaii’s impressive state capitol… is located on Oahu Island along with world-renowned Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbor. Honolulu is a robust city teeming with  culture and home to art galleries, museums and night life. Yet this city bustling with people and multiple high rise buildings preserves its easygoing tropical lifestyle filled with aloha spirit. 

You won’t find people living in grass huts on the island today, but you may come away wishing you owned a beach house!

Hawaii and part of Alaska’s the Aleutian Islands are in the same time zone known as Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time or HAST which is 2 hours earlier than the US West Coast’s Pacific Standard Time (PST) and -10 UTC.

I have always heard this referred to as just HST… Hawaii Standard Time.

Hawaii does not participate in Daylight Savings Time so add 1 additional hour to the time difference when the US mainland is observing Daylight Savings Time.

OAHU POPULATION

Oahu lives up to its name, The Gathering Place, since more than 953,000 of Hawaii’s total population of approximately 1.43 million call Oahu home based on 2018 estimates. Honolulu has about 5,500 people per square mile and has close to the same number of people as Tampa, Florida, and Anaheim, California.

Military personnel add a significant number of people to Oahu’s population base.

ETHNICITIES

Asian 43%, White 22%, two or more races 22%, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 10%, Hispanic 9%, Black 3%, American Indian, Alaska Native 0.3%.*  Females 49.5% (2012).

Mixed race marriages are common and most neighborhoods are racially mixed.

*(Figures taken from the US Census Bureau 2010 statistics and rounded).

LOCATION

The Hawaiian Island chain spans about 1500 miles beginning way out in the warm Central Pacific Ocean then proceeds northwest to Kure atoll.  The islands are recognized as the most remote islands on earth because they are further from a large land mass than any other islands.

For the purposes of this website the term Hawaiian Islands refers to the familiar 8 islands of Ni’ihau, Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Lana’i, Maui, Kaho’olawe and Hawai’i (Big Island).

San Francisco, California, is approximately 2400 miles Northeast of Oahu. Anchorage, Alaska, and Vancouver, British Columbia, are about 2700 miles northeast. Papeete, Tahiti,

is nearly due South at about 2700 miles, Tokyo, Japan, about 3800 miles Northwest and Sydney, Australia, more than 5000 miles southwest.

LAND SIZE

Oahu comprises approximately 600 square miles and has more than 200 miles of coastline. It is the third largest of the 8 islands.

The City and County of Honolulu includes the entire island of Oahu.

TERRAIN

Oahu has 2 mountain ranges with a valley dividing them. The Ko’olau Mountain Range runs along the East side of the island spanning North to Southeast and the Waianae Range hugs the West side of the island running North to Southwest.

The highest point is Mount Ka’ala in the Waiainae Range at 4,003 feet. Compared to the Big Island’s Mauna Kea towering over 13,000 feet, Mount Ka’ala is relatively low.

Hawaii Governor

David Ige, Democrat

Oahu Mayor

Kirk Caldwell, Democrat

Area Code

The entire State of Hawaii uses the same “808” area code.

Island Color

Yellow or melemele in Hawaiian.

Island Flower

Ilima, a native flower used in lei making.

ARMED FORCES

All major branches of the US military have a presence on Oahu due to Oahu’s strategic location in the Pacific Rim. These include Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station, Schofield Army Base, and a US Coast Guard station.

MEDIAN HOME PRICES*

As of April 2018 median list price for single family homes under 1 million dollars is $790,000 and condominiums is $416,000. Number of days on market: homes 17, condos 18.

*Based on MLS data from a realtor.

One of the amazing Oahu facts is that Oahu island (and the entire state for that matter) has the lowest property taxes of any US state.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

Hawaii also had a really low seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 2% in April 2018 as shown in the US Department of Labor statistics. It should be noted that due to the tourism industry there are a lot of service industry jobs.

Healthcare

The State of Hawaii has a healthcare mandate that employers offer healthcare to employees working 20 or more hours per week.

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