I'm considering a position @ Hickam supporting a military GV (C-37) in a civil service role, & would like some cost of living input from someone already there.  Simple stuff - gas prices, milk, bread, & the like.  Is ~$27/hr. a decent wage on the main isle?  I'm also entitled to a per diem rate, but don't know how much yet.  Any housing insight (average apartment rates) would also be greatly appreciated.  It should only be a 3 to 5 year contract, so I'm wondering if it'll be worth it to make that kind of move.  TIA&GB

I grew up in Hawaii but live in WA state now.  Your wage sounds good but Hawaii is probably substantially more expensive than Georgia, so be forewarned.  

You need to check out the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser newspapers on-line editions.  Also search for Hawaii Rifle Association website. Hawaii is not a gun friendly state, to say the least.  Some Honolulu members need to help you with the specifics about living there.  Good luck. -websensei

I've been to Maui for a total of 4 weeks now, and I've go one word for you:

Claustrophobia

I lived there for two years and I really miss that place. The people are awesome and the weather and beauty are unmatched. I remember milk and gas(but how far can you drive anyway) being pretty high. Rent wasn't too bad depending where you stay.

You are only on this earth once. I'd go for it. Hit the beach do a little surfing/booogieboarding.

When I lived there I used to have nightmares that I was back on the East Coast. Now I have dreams that I'm back in Hawaii.

GO FOR IT!

I'd take up the advice of websensei and check out the on-line editions of the newspapers he listed to find current rates or you can do a Google search on Hawaii real estate to find out current rental rates.  Was stationed in Pearl for a few years while in the Navy and yes you do get "rock fever" after a bit (nothing that a trip back to the mainland for vacation wouldn't cure), and it is a bit more expensive.  But if you don't mind near perfect weather all year round, gorgeous beaches and teriyaki burgers at Zippy's[:P] it's a great place.  I myself would like to move to the Big Island in a few years.

I lived there, on and off, for a few years.

Kailua and Lanikai the nicest beaches in the world. North Shore is nice, too.

Hickam is a 20-40 minute commute from either.

try this: [url]http://www.rentalsillustrated.com[/url]

Aloha Spider:
Yes the cost of living is high, and the state is not very gun friendly. I have lived here for 12 years, and am married to a local girl. It's home, and I do not ever see myself moving back to the mainland. Claustrophobia, not an issue. The state is like a big small town. After a while you get to know folks all over. With the higher cost of living, the answer is simple, we live simpler....more modest houses and older cars. The quality of life is unsurpassed, you can play outside every day of the year, the beach is always close. I agree with looking at the newspaper websites. Come on out and try it......you just might stay,
wabi

Good weather is year round. Cost of living is high but not as high as most people may think. Housing, it depends where you live. Can range from a low of $300 (there is lower but I would not recommend it) to a high of couple of g's per month. Cheap gas is $1.65 on the average. $27 phr is good to live off.

Did two tours there in the mid '70s and mid '80s.  My wife and I remember those years and the most fun we ever had.  She would get a bit antsy every now and then so I'd send her home to CA for a visit with her mom and sister.

I echo the Major:  Kailua was the nicest beach I have ever seen anywhere in the world for just easy swimming.  My kids and my golden retriever used to swim in the surf and the little finger lagoon that goes inland.  The funniest little puffer fish swam in that lagoon.  Great to pick them up and watch them blow up!

Some high points...

Winter storm surf at the Banzai Pipeline and at Waiamea Bay...AWESOME!

Sweetest pineapple in the world...papayas and mangos off of your own tree.

Beautiful and fragrant leis made from the plumeria trees in your own yard.

Geckos in your house.  You LIKE them because they keep the roach population down.  But they make the funniest chirping sound!  Watching them put the sneak on an unsuspecting cockroach is neat.  Watch out for the centipedes though...they can deliver a very painful bite.  One got me through the [heavily calloused] sole of my foot and the pain dropped me for a minute!).

Huli-huli chicken.

Imu pig.

tree-finga poi...(YUCK!)

BEST DEEP SEA GAME FISHING IN DA WORLD!  (One day while I was OOD on a guided missile destroyer out of Pearl, one of my troops called up to the pilot house and requested permission to fish from the fantail.  Since we weren't doing much right at that moment, I assented.  Not more than five minutes later, the bridge phone talker reports to me that the crew aft has hooked a marlin!  Now I'm in sort of a bind, since I had not informed the captain about the fishing...and I had slightly adjusted our speed for better trolling...a no-no without his permission.  The skipper was at lunch in the wardroom and I buzzed him to fill him in, albeit belatedly.  He must have really enjoyed his lunch that day...'cause he said, "OK...just let me know when they land the fish, so I can go see it."  WHEW!

As it happens, when they got the fish up to the stern, it threw the hook and escaped.  We did get a picture.)

Best O'club in the world at Hickam AFB...right on the water.  (The Air Force always has the finer things in life!)

Most beautiful and wettest place on earth is Waiamea Canyon on Kauai.  Several movies have been filmed there including Donovan's Reef, Blue Hawaii...and I think at least one of the Dino movies.

Finally, it IS more expensive to live there.  IF you get a proportional bump in salary and/or per diem, you should do alright.  As others have said, you can live cheaper and still do well over there.  Only one season so you can pack up all the clothing.  We had two modes:  Casual was shorts and muu muus for the ladies, shorts and aloha shirt for the guys...flippies or sandals for everybody.  "Dress" was aloha shirts and long pants for the guys, "dressy" muu muus for the ladies, sandals for everybody.  There are sites on the web where you can do comparative cost of living analyses.

Of all our friends and neighbors, I can remember only one person from the midwest who disliked duty in Hawaii.  She loathed the bugs and lizards so much she sealed her house up and installed air conditioners.

One negative...Hawaii is not a gun-friendly state.  You might want to consider safe storage for your firearms.  I never did any shooting while over there.

If I were you, I'd go for it.  You'll gather up some fond memories.

[beer]

I have family on Maui...been thinking of a lateral change in Dept's for awhile now.

Spider, I never spent much time on Oahu except for a few weekend trips, but I have lived on Maui for the last 20 years.

Some things are little more pricey like gasoline and milk. Some things are cheaper than the mainland. Property taxes are really cheap. I had a brother from OKC here last month and we were in Costco and he saw the exact same generator he had just bought for about $40 less. Plus he had to pay 8% sales tax, ours is 4.16%

The weather and the people are great here. If you don't mind leaving some belongings and some friends behind I would go for it.

AR15Oklahoma

[In my best Shaggy voice]Like yeah dude!!  It doesn't matter that gun ownership is practically banned, after all the waves are righteous man!  The "real" Hawaiians will hate your white ass, but that don't matter dude.  And don't worry about the typhoons, tsunamis, or the big ass volcano man, because positive vibes will keep that shit away.  Let's smoke some pot!![/Shaggy]

Seriously though, I'd go.  I visited once and thought the islands were great, but I'd never ever consider actually living there all the time.  For a few years it'd be some serious fun though.  Go surfing, fuck some hot tourist chicks, smoke some dank chronic, and drink a couple daquaris, then get back to the world of the real and buy a nice pistol.

Thanks for all the info, fellas.  I've visited there several times as well, but hadn't given a moment's notice to residing there until I was approached by the program manager here at Gulfstream.  The wife's stressing about it a bit, as she's a little apprehensive about moving 3K miles away from family.  I'll interview in a couple weeks or so, & find out then whether or not the $ will be worth it.

Didn't you say you make $1400 a month now?

Aloha Spider,
I think that it is a good idea to come out and interview, you will at least get an initial impression of the place. I can not help but voice a couple of points....As for your wife stressing about moving, that is a very common reaction to the idea of moving here. What I have found is that once you move here, all of a sudden all kinds of family and friends want to come and visit! With the cost of long distance calls ever falling as well as the internet, keeping in touch with my family all up and down the east coast is very easy. With family emailing as well as calling, we stay in touch several times a week.
Despite the rumors to the contrary, the folks in Hawaii are wonderful. Come, make a home in the community, all of a sudden you will have an electric rice cooker that will stay on the top of your kitchen counter. There will be a pile of rubber slippers (flip-flops) in front of your door, and your best shirt will be made by Reyn-Spooner. You will be "Uncle" to a whole bunch of kids, and you will get all kinds of "Aunties" and "Uncles" yourself. There will be cook outs and pot luck dinners where there is sooooo much food. There will be so much fruit in your kitchen that it will go bad. All the football games are done by noon, so you have the afternoon to go to the beach. Your baseball cap collection will quintuple, your car will always have sand on the floor, and you will soon have all sorts of snorkel gear floating around. One of the worst things that I found too was that going to a fish counter in a market on the mainland  you realise that none of that fish would sell in Hawaii because it looks so old.
i watch the evening news faithfully here, read all sorts of mainland newspapers online, then I go outside and watch the sunset or the moon rise over the water, and I think as I have many times over the years, "they just dont understand it "
Yes, this is home now.
wabi

My parents are 6th generation Hawaiian, I was born in Alabama but I guess I'm still Hawaiian.  I go every year for vacation and to see my family, does that count?