Study details hundreds who moved from Maui after wildfires

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - New data shows hundreds of Maui residents moved out of state because of the 2023 wildfires.

The 2020 Census had Lahaina’s population before the wildfire at nearly 13,000 people.

The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO) analyzed 2022-2023 state tax filings and found 430 to 510 Maui residents moved out of state due to the wildfires.

As for Maui’s total population, it was reduced by at least 1,000 due to increased out and a decrease of people moving to the island.

“I think it’s especially an important question here in Hawaii where this sort of sense of place and of displacement perhaps is especially important,” said UHERO assistant professor Dylan Moore.

“People already, before the fires, had lots of anxieties about whether they’d be able to remain in the state,” he added.

“This is the first time actually any tax-related data has been used and in this context,” said Baybars Karacaovali, Hawaii Department of Taxation.

“It is the most comprehensive data available at this point,” he added.

The stories of people forced to leave Maui after the wildfire due to skyrocketing cost of housing and families moving multiple times were heartbreaking.

Many expected the out-migration numbers to be higher.

“The fact that the numbers suggest that a lot of the impacted people are still in Maui, they moved somewhere else within Maui, and they’re still in Maui suggested there’s an opportunity to get them to stay,” said Moore.

As for migrations impacts, it cost at least $50 million in annual income to the state.

“The impact on the people who remain is going to be larger than the loss from the people who left,” said Moore.

“So $50 million, yes, it’s a lot. It matters. It’s not that large as a fraction of the state’s economy,” he added.

UH economists say it takes about two years to see the full effect of out-migration after any wildfire.

They also expect to see economic impacts to Hawaii from the Los Angeles wildfires.

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