Hawaii State Salaries

Last Updated on January 17, 2018 | Suggest an Edit

The state of Hawaii’s single biggest expense is paying its employees.

The state spends about $2 billion on salaries alone any given year. That represents almost 35 percent of the general-fund portion of the budget, which is filled by taxes. If you include employee pension contributions, and employee and retiree health benefits, almost 60 percent of the general fund budget is spent on payroll expenses.

As part of our annual evaluation of how the state spends its single biggest pot of money — salaries and benefits for employees, we file requests under Hawaii’s open records law asking for the names, positions and salaries of all state employees.

Capitol Legislature early morning with a bus streaking by on Beretania Street.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

We make the requests of the Hawaii Department of Education, University of Hawaii, Hawaii Health Systems Corp., the Hawaii Judiciary and the Legislature, as well the City and County of Honolulu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii counties.

This is just one of our many efforts to make more transparent how government works, to help make it possible for citizens to evaluate where money is spent and whether it’s spent wisely.

The information we are sharing is public, by law. But the government doesn’t make it easy to access. We’ve done that work for you. (Read an article explaining our view on the importance of public access to such data and an article exploring practices in other states.)

We’re updating this series every year or as new salary increases and union contracts kick in.

2018 Salaries

2018 Salaries (public employee contracts generally covering July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2019)

2016 Salaries

2016 salaries (public employee contracts generally covering July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2017)

2013 Salaries

Hawaii State Salaries 2013: More Employees Making More Money Salaries overall have gone up this year.
Hawaii State Salaries 2013: Raises, Finally, at the Legislature Nearly 400 people on the legislative payroll, including lawmakers and staff, see pay cuts restored along with a new wage boost.
Hawaii State Salaries 2013: Huge Pay Hike for Judges Hawaii’s historically underpaid judges are receiving huge raises this year to bring their standard of living up to par with their mainland counterparts.
Hawaii State Salaries 2013: Pay Inches Up in Office of Hawaiian Affairs The head of the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs will earn $11,000 more in 2013 than the previous year, while the elected Board of Trustees’ salaries remain the same.
Hawaii State Salaries 2013: HHSC Workers Get Raises, Execs Don't Thousands of employees of Hawaii's public hospital system got raises in 2013 but top execs were forced to hold the line on pay.

2012 Salaries

Here's a list of stories we published covering 2012 fiscal year salaries:

Honolulu Salaries 2012 — The Full Employee List How City Hall spends your money to pay government workers.
Honolulu Salaries 2012 — The City's Big Earners At least 32 government workers haul in more than $110,000.
Honolulu Salaries 2012 — Common Jobs and Names More than 400 Fire Fighter I's are on the city's payroll.
Honolulu Salaries 2012 — Pay for Men and Women: Men and women work different jobs at Honolulu Hale, and the men's jobs pay more.
The Hawaii Legislature: Hawaii lawmakers aren't making any more money this year, thanks to a self-imposed pay cut.
Hawaii State Salaries: Fewer Employees, Higher Costs: While there are fewer employees in state government, the state is spending more taxpayer money on salaries and retirement benefits this year as a result of ending twice-monthly furloughs on July 1. The database covers 44,747 workers.
Hawaii State Salaries: Highest Paid: Mental health services. Medicaid. Military. Tourism. Employees in those areas represent the 10 highest-paid people in Hawaii state government.
Department of Education: The 22,009 employees fill 153 unique positions within the department, from teachers and principals and speech pathologists and school psychologists.
Department of Education: Pay Per Pupil By School: We analyzed the salary and location information of the department's 22,009 employees and found the total personnel costs for each of the state's schools.
Department of Education: Pay Per Pupil By Complex Area: The Hawaii Department of Education spends as little as $4,965 on salaries per pupil and as much as $6,868 depending on which complex area they're in.
Hawaii Health Systems Corp: With the exception of one top administrator who got a raise, salaries for the group's nearly 4,000 employees were either frozen or cut across the board.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs: OHA trustees got a raise for the third year in a row while other state employees saw their pay frozen or cut.
University of Hawaii Salaries: The list covers nearly 7,500 full time employees.
University of Hawaii Highest Paid: UH's highest paid employee isn't the school president or a dean. He's a coach.
Hawaii Judiciary: Hawaii's state judges are among the lowest paid in the nation — and their salaries won't be improving anytime soon given legislative pay cuts that have been extended through the end of 2013.