Kauai residents urged to take statewide quality of life survey

Kauaʻi’s housing, transportation and cost-of-living pressures can disappear into statewide averages if island residents do not answer the latest quality of life survey. State officials say the questionnaire is meant to feed reports and dashboards that guide future programs and policies, making each local response part of a larger planning dataset.

That message was front and center at the Downtown Līhuʻe Night Market, where Eva McKinsey and Lorie Okada of the University of Hawaiʻi College of Social Sciences helped residents fill out the online survey on Saturday, April 11. McKinsey said responses are passed along to policymakers, where they can help shape decisions that improve quality of life. The survey is open to Hawaiʻi residents age 18 and older, is described by the state as confidential and anonymous, and takes about 10 to 20 minutes to complete on a smartphone, tablet or computer.

The questionnaire reaches far beyond a simple satisfaction check. It asks about health and well-being, work, education and cost of living, along with neighborhoods, disaster preparedness, food security, housing, family and community supports and resources, workplaces, physical and mental health, adverse childhood experiences and access to services. For Kauaʻi, those are not abstract categories. They map directly onto the daily realities of finding affordable rent, getting across the island, preparing for storms and reaching medical care and other services.

Gov. Josh Green said the effort is meant to produce smarter policy, not just collect opinions, noting that when decisions are grounded in the lived experiences of neighbors, they create smarter policies and stronger communities. The survey is being run through the Office of Wellness and Resilience in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Health Policy Initiative, and state officials say it is intended to update data and strengthen decisions for community, workplace and state-level efforts.

The new survey follows a 2024 Hawaiʻi Quality of Life and Well-Being Dashboard that drew more than 8,000 residents statewide. State leaders later described it as the largest statewide survey on health ever conducted in Hawaiʻi and the largest dataset using the CDC’s NIOSH Worker Well-Being Questionnaire. That backdrop matters for Kauaʻi, because the next round of answers will help determine whether island-specific concerns remain visible in state planning or get lost in broader statewide numbers.