Pick an island your family can actually live on

Sourced relocation data for inhabited islands — schools, pediatric healthcare access, cost bands, residency by passport, and what changes island to island. Compare side-by-side. No signup.

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Most popular island chains

Start with the chains families research most — full profiles, compare tables, and family-focused guides for each.

#1 most researched

Balearic Islands

Spain's Mediterranean archipelago — Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera. Mallorca has the widest school and hospital choice; Menorca is quieter and family-oriented; Ibiza mixes tourism economy with a growing year-round resident base. All share Balearic housing regulations and EU/Schengen immigration rules.

Mediterranean / Spain (EU) · 3 islands

#2 most researched

Canary Islands

Spain's Atlantic archipelago off northwest Africa — seven main islands, year-round mild climate, and EU residency paths. Tenerife and Gran Canaria carry the largest hospitals and international schools; Lanzarote is smaller and drier with a distinct cost and lifestyle profile. Compare islands before choosing — logistics and housing differ more than the brochures suggest.

Atlantic / Spain (EU) · 3 islands

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More island chains

U.S. Virgin Islands

Three inhabited district islands plus documented offshore cays in the Caribbean, an unincorporated U.S. territory. St Thomas and St John form the St Thomas-St John district; St Croix is the largest island and lies ~40 miles south. Each inhabited island differs in size, infrastructure, schools, and cost of living.

Caribbean · 3 inhabited · 1 uninhabited

Isle of Man

A self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. One main inhabited island (~572 km²) with Douglas as the capital, Ronaldsway Airport, and sea links to Liverpool, Heysham, Belfast, and Dublin. Separate immigration and work-permit regime from the UK — attractive tax rates but not automatic EU free movement post-Brexit.

British Isles / Irish Sea · 1 island

Galápagos Islands

Ecuador's Pacific archipelago — a special regime province with strict migration controls. Four inhabited islands (Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, Isabela, Floreana) share Ecuador immigration rules but differ sharply in hospitals, schools, ferry frequency, and remoteness. USD currency; tourism economy; permanent island residency is heavily restricted.

Pacific / South America · 4 islands

St Lucia

An independent English-speaking island nation in the eastern Caribbean. One main inhabited island with two hospital hubs (Castries and Vieux Fort), a growing expat community in the north, and Hewanorra International Airport in the south. Compare with other Caribbean destinations — not an archipelago like USVI.

Caribbean · 1 island

Tasmania

Australia's island state — one large main island plus inhabited Bass Strait and Furneaux islands. Hobart and Launceston carry most schools and hospitals; Bruny, King, and Flinders offer smaller-community alternatives with very different logistics, healthcare scale, and cost profiles.

Australia / Oceania · 4 islands

Antarctic coast islands

Sub-Antarctic and maritime-Antarctic islands off the Southern Ocean — the Falklands (~1,300 km north of the Antarctic Peninsula) as the main civilian gateway, King George Island in the South Shetlands (~120 km off the peninsula) with Chile's Villa Las Estrellas, plus documented uninhabited islands (South Georgia, Deception, Livingston, Elephant, and the South Sandwich arc). Uninhabited profiles cover geography and Antarctic Treaty access — not relocation destinations.

Southern Ocean / Antarctica · 3 inhabited · 5 uninhabited

Aleutian Islands

The full 1,200-mile Aleutian arc from Unimak to Attu — 9 year-round inhabited communities plus 102 documented uninhabited islands (≥0.1 sq mi, U.S. Alaska). Subarctic, fly-in, no road link to mainland. Uninhabited profiles cover refuge islands, WWII sites, and volcanic peaks — not relocation destinations. Commander Islands (Russia) excluded.

North Pacific / Alaska (U.S.) · 9 inhabited · 102 uninhabited

Andaman Islands

India's Bay of Bengal archipelago — 21 inhabited islands in the Andaman group per the 2011 Census (Port Blair/South Andaman hub, Middle & North Andaman, Havelock/Swaraj Dweep, Neil/Shaheed Dweep, Little Andaman, and smaller settlements). Restricted Area Permit (RAP) applies to most foreign visitors. North Sentinel and tribal reserves are documented but not relocation destinations.

Bay of Bengal / India · 21 islands

Scottish Islands

Scotland's offshore islands — 101 inhabited communities and 238 documented uninhabited islands across Orkney, Shetland, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Firth of Clyde, and the Firth of Forth (Haswell-Smith / Wikipedia inventory, 2022 census baseline). From Lewis and Harris and Skye to remote holms and stacks — compare schools, ferry access, NHS hubs, and U.K. residency rules.

British Isles / Scotland (U.K.) · 101 inhabited · 238 uninhabited

Hawaiian Islands

The full Hawaiian archipelago — 7 inhabited main islands (Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, Maui, Kauaʻi, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Niʻihau) plus 151 documented uninhabited islands and islets from the Wikipedia/state inventory (Kahoʻolawe, Molokini, NWHI/Papahānaumokuākea, and nearshore islets). U.S. state — English and Hawaiian official. Niʻihau and monument islands are not open relocation destinations.

Central Pacific / U.S. (Hawaii) · 7 inhabited · 151 uninhabited

United States Islands

U.S. maritime island inventory from GeoNames — Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and territorial coasts only (no Great Lakes or inland river islets). Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Alaska coastal isles, and U.S. Minor Outlying Islands. Excludes islands already profiled in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaiian Islands, and Aleutian Islands chains.

United States (states & territories) · 21 inhabited · 1442 uninhabited

Remote islands

Among the world's most-googled weird and remote islands — Tristan da Cunha (most isolated inhabited archipelago), Pitcairn (Bounty mutineer settlement), and Saint Helena (Napoleon's exile, now air-linked). All are British Overseas Territories with extreme logistics and tightly controlled settlement.

South Atlantic / South Pacific (UK territories) · 3 islands

China Islands

Islands of the People's Republic of China and claimed territories — full open-data inventory from GeoNames and Wikipedia (~1,750 named islands): coastal, river, lake, and South China Sea features across Hainan, the Zhoushan archipelago (1,390+ documented nationally), Hong Kong, Taiwan and offshore counties, Fujian and Guangdong coasts, and Paracel/Spratly outposts. China's official marine census registers 6,900+ uninhabited islands ≥500 m²; this chain documents every named island in GeoNames plus Wikipedia inventories.

East Asia / South China Sea · 90 inhabited · 1654 uninhabited

Popular tourist islands

Top 100 world-famous tourist islands from Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveller, and regional reader awards (2024–2025) — excluding destinations already profiled in other chains (Balearics, Canaries, Hawaii, USVI, Galápagos, Tasmania, St Lucia, Scotland, Andaman, China, and U.S. island inventory). Curated relocation-oriented snapshots with sourced fields, schools, healthcare access notes, and residency paths.

Worldwide · 100 islands

Informational only — not immigration or legal advice. Every field includes a source and last-verified date. Read our methodology.