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- Honolulu
Capital of Hawaii · City and County of Honolulu · capital since 1845 · 21.3°N 157.9°W
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, on the south shore of Oahu, is the capital and largest city of Hawaii and the only state capital outside North America. It has been the seat of government since the days of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Where Honolulu is
Honolulu lies at 21.31°N, 157.86°W on the southeastern coast of Oahu, facing the Pacific between Pearl Harbor to the west and the crater of Diamond Head to the east. The Koolau Range rises steeply behind the city, and its valleys and ridges shape the neighborhoods. Formally the city is part of the City and County of Honolulu, a consolidated government that covers all of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The urban area is the census-designated place called Urban Honolulu. The capital is about 2,400 miles from San Francisco, the nearest point of the mainland.
Hawaii uses Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time (UTC−10) and does not observe daylight saving time, so Honolulu is two hours behind Los Angeles in winter and three hours behind in summer.
How it became the capital
Kamehameha I unified the islands in 1810 and ruled from Honolulu's natural harbor and later from Lahaina on Maui. Kamehameha III moved the royal court permanently to Honolulu in 1845. The city remained the capital of the Republic of Hawaii after the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy, of the Territory of Hawaii after annexation in 1898, and of the state when Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959.
Population
Urban Honolulu had 350,964 residents in 2020, making it the largest city in Hawaii by a wide margin; East Honolulu and Pearl City, the next-largest places, each have under 50,000. The City and County of Honolulu as a whole had about 1,016,000 people, roughly seven in ten of the state's 1,455,271.
The capitol
Iolani Palace, completed in 1882 for King Kalakaua, served as the capitol from the overthrow until 1969 and is the only royal palace on US soil. The Hawaii State Capitol behind it opened in 1969, designed by John Carl Warnecke with the Honolulu firm Belt, Lemke and Lo. It has no dome: the legislative chambers are cone-shaped volcanoes, the surrounding pool represents the ocean, and the columns represent palm trees. The building is open to the sky at the center.
Distances to other cities
| City | Direction | Air distance |
|---|---|---|
| Hilo, HI | southeast | about 215 mi |
| Los Angeles, CA | northeast | about 2,550 mi |
| Anchorage, AK | north | about 2,780 mi |
Related maps
- Hawaii map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
- Honolulu city map — the city page with nearby cities and distances.
- Hawaii county map · blank Hawaii map · printable Hawaii map.
- All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
- West region · Pacific division · Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone.