I just stepped back and took a look at the demographics of Lahaina (which the U.S. Census Bureau defines as a “census designated place”).
This is from an initial, quick scan of the numbers. Feel free to jump in to help interpret what this all means.
You can easily find the same data. For the Lahaina CDP; for Maui County; and, for comparison, the State of Hawaii.
Here are those categories where there appear to be significant differences (as measured by the 2020 Census).
Lahaina had more young people under 5 years old (8.1%) vs. Maui County as a whole (5.3).
The same with those under age 18 (Lahaina 25.6%) vs Maui County (20.9%).
But Lahaina had fewer residents over age 65 (15.3%) vs Maui County (20.7%).
Fewer Lahaina residents owned their own homes (49.7%) vs. Maui County (63.9%) or the state (61%).
Lahaina had significantly more residents who were foreign born (31.7%) vs Maui County (17.8%), or Hawaii as a whole (18.2%).
Reflecting that, more Lahaina residents reported speaking a language other than English at home: Lahaina (36%), Maui County (22.0%), State of Hawaii (25.9%).
The rate of higher education was lower, with 24% of Lahaina residents 25 or older holding a BA or higher degree vs. Maui County (30%), and the State of Hawaii (34.3%).
Lahaina had more residents working (counted in the civilian labor force) (73.8%), more than the comparable figures for Maui County (65.4%) or the state (61.1%).
And women in Lahaina were more likely to be working (69.1% of women were in the labor force), vs 64% for Maui County and 59.7% for the state as a whole.
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A whole new perspective. Thank you for this, Ian.
Regarding the name L?hain?
Did you notice my spelling of the name L?hain?? I’m moderately fluent in Hawaiian, but on Friday I saw for the first time in my life what must be presumed to be the correct spelling. We know it’s correct because it’s on the official news webpage of University of Hawaii, which has an entire College of Hawaiian Language on the Hilo campus and, of course, professors and/or departments of the language at Manoa and on all the branch campuses. We know that that spelling was not a typographical error, because it is repeated numerous times in the article, which also explains the origin of its meaning as “cruel sun”.
https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2023/08/11/remains-of-prominent-alii-part-of-lahaina/
I also have never heard the name pronounced in a way that reflects the kahakos over both of the letter “a”s. Perhaps that pronunciation is the old way of saying it from before the written language was created and then continuing later before UH professors invented diacritical marks to guide non-native speakers on how to pronounce things. By the way, the first time I heard a TV news national broadcast reporter pronouncing the name, it was terribly grating when I heard “lah-HAY-nah.”
I know it might seem trivial to focus on this detail amidst the horror and tragedy of the fires. But we have growing emphasis on revival of the language throughout my 31 years living in K?ne’ohe, including bills in the legislature requiring bilingual letterhead stationery and agenda notices, and further requiring inclusion of diacritical marks. I shall henceforth pronounce the placename correctly, and include the kahakos when I write the name longhand or if I’m using a device which makes it convenient (I might add that a friend who is well-respected as kupuna and expert in Hawaiian language never uses kahakos in emails and also uses straight uncurved apostrophes as ‘okinas for the sake of speed and convenience). Am I being pedantic in raising this topic? Well, then, accuse the language professors of pedantry when they demand “correct” usage of diacritical marks in their classrooms and in official documents.
Fascinating Ian. Mahalo
So basically Lahaina was populated to a large degree by hard working, educationally limited, recent immigrants who still spoke their native language regularly and likely lived in multi generational households.
Salt of the Earth and the American Dream.