Consensus, Urgency, and the Cost Question: What Hawaiʻi Residents Think About Sea Level Rise

By Colin Moore, Ketty Loeb, Victoria Keener, and Zena Grecni

Hawaiʻi is among the most vulnerable places in the United States to sea level rise. Nearly all residents live near the coast, where housing, transportation networks, tourism infrastructure, and cultural sites are concentrated. Chronic flooding and beach erosion are already visible in many communities, and long-term projections point to steadily rising risks over the coming decades.

Until recently, however, there has been little systematic evidence on how residents view this threat or what kinds of policy responses they are prepared to support. To address this gap, an interdisciplinary team from Pacific RISA, UHERO, and the UH Institute for Sustainability and Resilience conducted Hawai‘i’s first statewide, representative survey of public attitudes toward sea level rise (SLR) in summer 2025, gathering responses from 1,314 adults across all four counties. The results provide a baseline picture of public beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy preferences at a critical moment for coastal planning in the state.  Detailed findings are presented in the full report, Public Views on Sea Level Rise in Hawaiʻi: Results from a Statewide Survey. Read More