The Hawaii crime rate in 2024 came in at 218 violent offenses and 1,947 property offenses per 100,000 residents, keeping the state among the five safest in the country for violent crime while sitting above the national average for property offenses.1USAFacts. What Is the Crime Rate in Hawaii? Both figures jumped sharply from the year before, reversing several years of gradual improvement and giving the state the largest single-year increases of any state in 2024.
What the 2024 Numbers Look Like
Combined, violent and property offenses ran at roughly 2,165 per 100,000 residents in 2024.1USAFacts. What Is the Crime Rate in Hawaii? Applied to a population of about 1.44 million, that works out to roughly 31,000 total index crimes for the year. Property offenses account for about 90 percent of the total, a ratio that has held steady for years and that shapes most of the public safety conversation in the state.
For context, the most recent statewide totals published directly by the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General cover 2021, when the state logged 41,355 index crimes made up of 3,849 violent and 37,506 property offenses.2Hawaii Department of the Attorney General. Uniform Crime Reports – Hawaii Crime Statistics The 2024 FBI figures are more current but less granular; the Attorney General’s reports catch up on a lag.
The 2024 Spike
National violent crime fell an estimated 4.5 percent in 2024. Hawaii moved the other way. Violent crime rose 16.4 percent and property crime rose 16.6 percent, the largest increases of any state that year.3USAFacts. Which States Have the Highest and Lowest Crime Rates The next-largest violent crime jump, in Wyoming, was 6.4 percent.
A one-year spike doesn’t automatically signal a lasting shift. Hawaii’s violent crime rate had been drifting down for most of the previous decade, and even after the 2024 increase, the 218 per 100,000 figure sits well below the national rate. But the size of the jump is big enough that the next year of data will matter a lot for interpreting whether 2024 was an outlier or the start of something.
Violent Crime, Broken Down
The 2024 violent crime rate of 218 per 100,000 breaks into four FBI index categories:1USAFacts. What Is the Crime Rate in Hawaii?
- Aggravated assault at 136 per 100,000, about 62.5 percent of all violent offenses.
- Robbery at 41 per 100,000, roughly 19 percent.
- Rape at 39 per 100,000, roughly 18 percent.
- Murder at 2 per 100,000, under 1 percent.
Aggravated assault dominates the picture, which lines up with national patterns. The murder rate of 2 per 100,000 is among the lowest in the country and has sat in that range for years. Robbery is notable in the other direction: older reports showed rates closer to 65 per 100,000, so the current 41 figure represents a meaningful drop in that category even as the overall violent total climbed.
Bias-motivated offenses are tracked separately by the Attorney General. Five hate crimes were reported statewide in 2024.4Hawaii Department of the Attorney General. Hate Crimes Reporting rates for this category tend to understate the real frequency everywhere, not just in Hawaii.
Property Crime and Vehicle Break-Ins
The 2024 property crime rate of 1,947 per 100,000 is actually down from the 2,601 recorded in 2021, but it still runs above the national average and accounts for the overwhelming bulk of crime in the state.1USAFacts. What Is the Crime Rate in Hawaii? Larceny-theft is by far the most common offense, followed by motor vehicle theft and burglary.
A large share of larceny reports involve theft from vehicles, especially rental cars left at trailheads, scenic lookouts, and beach parking lots. In 2023, Honolulu police recorded 255 vehicle break-ins at East Oahu lookout parking areas alone. A camera-deployment pilot at four of the worst lots in 2024 cut break-ins to zero in its first month, suggesting the problem responds to targeted enforcement when resources are directed at it.
Visitors face essentially no elevated risk of violent crime, but vehicle break-ins are a documented problem across all four counties. The pattern is predictable: a rental car parked at a trailhead for an hour or more, valuables left in the cabin or trunk, and a lot that sits away from foot traffic. County police departments consistently offer the same advice: take valuables with you, lock the car, and leave nothing visible through the windows. The same fundamentals apply to residents at home.
Catalytic converter theft became its own standalone Class C felony in 2022, prosecutable regardless of the converter’s dollar value.5Justia Law. Hawaii Revised Statutes Title 37, Chapter 708-836.8 – Theft of Catalytic Converter The change was meant to get around proof problems that had been tripping up earlier prosecutions.
How Hawaii Compares to the Rest of the Country
Hawaii’s split profile is sharpest against national benchmarks. The violent crime rate of 218 per 100,000 puts the state among the five lowest in the country.1USAFacts. What Is the Crime Rate in Hawaii? Island geography appears to play a role: limited mobility for criminal networks, difficulty fleeing after a serious offense, and tighter community ties all push the same direction.
Property crime is the opposite story. Hawaii regularly exceeds the national average and lands in the upper half of states. The tourist economy is a major driver. Millions of visitors each year create a steady supply of unattended rental cars, hotel rooms holding valuables, and distracted targets, which inflates property crime figures in ways that don’t apply to most mainland states.
Incarceration tracks the lower-crime side of the profile. Hawaii imprisons roughly 174 people per 100,000 residents, less than half the national figure of 355 per 100,000. How much of that gap reflects sentencing policy versus underlying crime versus prison capacity is debated.
Where the Crime Happens by County
Crime is not spread evenly across Hawaii’s four counties, and raw totals mostly reflect population. The City and County of Honolulu, home to about 70 percent of the state’s residents, reports the largest share of index offenses year after year. It is the only part of the state with true urban density, so it dominates statewide statistics.
Maui County generally reports the second-highest totals. Hawaii County, the Big Island, spreads its crime across a much larger geographic footprint, which can make per-capita rates look different from the raw count. Kauai County consistently reports the lowest totals, in line with its smaller population. These differences drive how the Attorney General’s office allocates grants and task force resources, with rural areas facing their own distinct challenge of longer response times and thinner officer coverage.
If You’re a Victim of Crime in Hawaii
Hawaii runs a Crime Victim Compensation Commission through the state judiciary. The program can reimburse victims for medical expenses, funeral costs, lost wages, and related out-of-pocket losses from qualifying offenses. The general maximum award is $10,000 per victim, rising to $20,000 in medical expense coverage for victims with catastrophic injuries.6Justia Law. Hawaii Revised Statutes Title 20, Chapter 351-62 – Limitations Upon Award
To qualify, the crime must have happened in Hawaii and must have been reported to law enforcement without undue delay. Applications are due within 18 months of the injury, death, or property damage, though the commission can accept late filings for good cause.7Hawaii State Judiciary. Crime Victim Compensation Injured victims, dependents of deceased victims, and relatives who paid medical or funeral costs can all apply. Qualifying offenses include murder, assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, and family abuse.
Each county has its own contact line for compensation inquiries:
- Oahu: (808) 587-1143
- Hawaii County: (808) 974-4000, ext. 71143
- Maui County: (808) 984-2400, ext. 71143
- Kauai County: (808) 274-3141, ext. 71143
- Molokai and Lanai: 1-800-468-4644, ext. 71143