See this state's corresponding data on our five indicators. Though the only urban center in Hawaii, Honolulu shares equal partnership in the statewide school system. Millions of tourists each year escape to Hawaii to relax in exotic surroundings, isolated from the U.S. mainland. But daily life for the residents of this island Eden bustles behind the scenes, all but invisible to the vacationing eye. The island of Oahu is home to about 80 percent of the state's 1.2 million residents, with the majority living in Honolulu, Hawaii's only true urban center.
Many residents hold two or three jobs in the dominant tourism industry or in the state government.
The city also is home to most of the state's roughly 191,000 schoolchildren. Yet, despite its contrasts with the suburban and rural regions throughout the state's eight main islands, Honolulu is virtually an equal partner in Hawaii's unique statewide school system. Hawaii's schools receive 91 percent of their funding from the state, a considerably higher proportion than in any other state. City schools thus do not encounter the gross disparities in financing and facilities, salaries and the quality of teaching, and instructional resources that are commonplace among their counterparts elsewhere in the United States. Read an update of education policies in Hawaii.