{"id":209169,"date":"2025-01-14T08:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T18:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=209169"},"modified":"2025-01-14T08:59:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T18:59:22","slug":"migration-effects-maui-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/01\/14\/migration-effects-maui-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr>: Maui wildfires trigger population loss, economic impact"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_181814\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-181814\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lahaina-wildfires.jpg\" alt=\"aerial of Lahaina fire damage\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-181814\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lahaina-wildfires.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lahaina-wildfires-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lahaina-wildfires-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-181814\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo credit: <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Department of Land and Natural Resources)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The devastating wildfires that swept through Maui in 2023 have reduced the island\u2019s population by more than 1,000 residents, driven by increased out-migration and declining in-migration. Among those affected, at least 430 to 510 residents have moved out of state. This population loss will result in an estimated loss of $50 million annual income for <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n<p>The blog, published by the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Economic Research Organization (<abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr>) on January 14,<a href=\"https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/migration-effects-of-the-maui-wildfires-early-indicators-from-state-tax-filings\/\"> analyzed state tax filings to assess the fires\u2019 impact on migration<\/a>. The findings shed light on the long-term effects of the disaster, which ravaged parts of Lahaina and Kula, forcing thousands to leave their homes permanently.<\/p>\n<h2>Population shift: A community uprooted<\/h2>\n<p><abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr>\u2019s analyzed the migration patterns of 5,089 individuals who lived in homes deemed unsafe due to fire damage. Among them:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1,420 residents relocated within the Lahaina zip code (for example, West Maui)<\/li>\n<li>1,058 residents moved elsewhere on Maui<\/li>\n<li>369 residents left Maui altogether, including 242 who moved out of state and 127 who relocated to other counties in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Declining in-migration compounded these outflows. The blog found 370 fewer people moved to Maui from outside the state than expected.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;About 63&#8211;64&#37; of the population loss stems from increased out-migration, with some residents leaving for other counties in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> and others leaving the state entirely,&rdquo; noted the blog, co-authored by <abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr> Assistant Professor Dylan Moore and Baybars Karacaovali from the <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Department of Taxation.<\/p>\n<h2>Economic fallout: A ripple effect of loss<\/h2>\n<p>These migration effects come with economic repercussions. The residents who would be living in Maui if the fires hadn\u2019t happened earn $60 million of annual income, which is lost to the county. Much of this money, <abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr> noted, would have eventually been spent in Maui, generating <abbr>GET<\/abbr> (general excise tax) revenue for the county, and supporting jobs for local residents. For the state as a whole, the loss of $50 million of annual income will reduce state <abbr>GET<\/abbr> revenue and economic activity. In addition, income loss due to fire-induced out-migration is estimated to have reduced <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>\u2019s income tax collections by more than $3 million annually.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These numbers understate the true impact of fire-induced migration,&rdquo; the blog emphasized, pointing to the broader economic ripple effects, such as reduced spending by displaced residents.<\/p>\n<h2>Challenges for survivors<\/h2>\n<p>The wildfires have left survivors grappling with housing shortages, job losses and emotional strain. According to a survey by the <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> State Rural Health Association, one in five fire-affected households is seriously considering leaving Maui.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr> researchers acknowledged limitations in their analysis, which relied on state tax filings to track migration. More than 600 displaced households that filed taxes before the fires have not filed since, and others never filed tax returns between 2021 and 2023. These gaps suggest the actual impact could be even greater.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These preliminary estimates likely underestimate the magnitude of the effect,&rdquo; <abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr> said, underscoring the need for more data to fully understand the long-term impacts of the disaster.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/migration-effects-of-the-maui-wildfires-early-indicators-from-state-tax-filings\/\">See the entire blog on <abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr>\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr> is housed in <a href=\"https:\/\/socialsciences.manoa.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s College of Social Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The findings shed light on the long-term effects of the disaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[301,197,1467,1363,1314,1597,1600,1026,73,9,343],"class_list":["post-209169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-economics","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-maui-wildfires","tag-public-impact-research","tag-social-science","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uhero","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209169"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209189,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209169\/revisions\/209189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}