# U.S. Islands **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544 "2013-08-29T23:50:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/1 "2013-08-29T23:50:22Z")
How many islands are part of the United States, and by that I mean the 50 actual states; Puerto Rico and Guam don’t count. Am I correct in guessing that Alaska is the state with the most islands, and New York is the state with the most people living on islands? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/2 "2013-08-30T01:14:08Z")
You’re probably right about New York: New York City (not counting the Bronx) and Long Island have a bigger population than many states. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/3 "2013-08-30T01:17:09Z")
Interesting question. [Here is a list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_the_United_States), unfortunately, it won’t be easy to convert without effort. You might have to define some things: e.g. Florida has the [10,000 Islands](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Thousand_Islands), although that number isn’t very accurate. Many of them are tiny. > [@threeorange](#): > > Am I correct in guessing that Alaska is the state with the most islands Yes. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/4 "2013-08-30T02:08:52Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > You’re probably right about New York: New York City (not counting the Bronx) and Long Island have a bigger population than many states. Insular NYC plus Long Island together would be the 11th most populated state (and would drop upstate from 3d to 8th or 9th). Heck, Manhattan alone outnumbers any of the 12 least-populated states. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/5 "2013-08-30T03:20:42Z")
I know you don’t want to hear this but it is true. Island questions are impossible to answer unless your criteria are strictly defined and all of those criteria are fairly arbitrary. The problem is how do you define an island? Is it any offshore land surrounded by water? There are hundreds of thousands of those but most of them are quite small and uninhabited. What about inland islands in lakes or ponds (including the Great Lakes)? Some of those are inhabited. It is a hard problem sort of like measuring the length of the coastline of the U.S. The number gets immeasurably larger the closer you look. Just close to home, there are about 6,000 islands off the Coast of Maine alone. A number of them are inhabited but only usually sparsely and sometimes seasonally. Massachusetts has Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket but also the Boston Harbor Islands plus many more including some that are privately owned. The West Coast has everything from Catalina Island to Alcatraz. The list is endless but again, it depends on what your criteria are. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/6 "2013-08-30T07:32:12Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Heck, Manhattan alone outnumbers any of the 12 least-populated states. Nitpick: Nighttime Manhattan would rank #39 by population if a separate state. In the daytime it would rank about #28. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/7 "2013-08-30T17:33:23Z")
The USGS [Geographic Names Information System](http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/) lists the following numbers of **named** islands by state: [ul][li]AK: 2763[_]AL: 225[_]AR: 140[_]AZ: 34[_]CA: 519[_]CO: 12[_]CT: 348[_]DC: 7[_]FL: 1746[_]GA: 481[_]HI: 148[_]IA: 105[_]ID: 136[_]IL: 328[_]IN: 58[_]KS: 3 (heh)[_]KY: 113[_]LA: 469[_]MA: 683[_]MD: 344[_]ME: 1906[_]MI: 522[_]MN: 585[_]MO: 251[_]MS: 108[_]MT: 115[_]NC: 415[_]ND: 16[_]NE: 70[_]NH: 276[_]NJ: 214[_]NM: 8[_]NV: 37[_]NY: 911[_]OH: 162[_]OK: 27[_]OR: 337[_]PA: 246[_]RI: 108[_]SC: 387[_]SD: 74[_]TN: 462[_]TX: 260[_]UT: 29[_]VA: 315[_]VT: 78[_]WA: 422[_]WI: 426[_]WV: 60[\*]WY: 35[/ul]All told, then, there are 17,954 entries for named islands in the USGS. However, this number is doubtless an overestimate for the actual number of named islands, since some of these may be duplicate entries between states and/or counties. I would feel comfortable saying that there are over 17,000 named islands in the 50 states & DC, but I wouldn’t want to get more precise than that. The top 5 states in terms of numbers of named islands are Alaska (as suspected), Maine, Florida, New York, and Massachusetts.[/li] For the record, here are the three named islands of Kansas: [Stigers Island](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.2528,+-94.8502&hl=en&ll=39.251664,-94.848576&spn=0.112193,0.146084&sll=39.252779,-94.85024&sspn=0.056096,0.073042&t=h&z=13), which appears to be the land between a former and the current channels of the Missouri, and which may actually be attached to the mainland (it’s hard to tell); [Franks Island](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Franks+Island,+Tecumseh,+KS&hl=en&ll=39.063948,-95.547667&spn=0.028123,0.036521&sll=39.06528,-95.5486&sspn=0.028123,0.036521&oq=Franks+I&t=h&hnear=Franks+Island&z=15) (ditto, only involving the Kansas river); and [Nelson Island](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Nelson+Island,+Shawnee,+KS&hl=en&ll=39.043853,-94.803686&spn=0.014066,0.01826&sll=39.063948,-95.547667&sspn=0.028123,0.036521&oq=Nelson+Island&t=h&hnear=Nelson+Island&z=16), which does actually appear to be separated from the “mainland” by a small creek. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/8 "2013-08-30T18:41:04Z")
Eventually someone’s going to ask whether an island in a lake on another island (e.g. the several small islands on the lakes of Michigan’s Isle Royale) should be counted, or whether that would be considered unfair double-counting. Let me pre-empt that hijack by mentioning the (non-U.S.) trivia stumper: Vulcan Point Island is in Main Crater Lake on Volcano Island, which is itself in Lake Taal on Luzon Island. Vulcan Point Island is _not_ the largest island on an island on an island. That distinction seems to belong to [an unnamed island in an unnamed lake on an unnamed island in an unnamed(?) lake on Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic.](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=69.793%C2%B0+N,+108.241%C2%B0+W&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=69.788917,-108.222198&spn=0.064406,0.338173&geocode=+&t=h&z=12) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/9 "2013-08-30T19:18:18Z")
I bet that NYS also has a high ranking for the number of square miles of islands, since Long Island is long [/obInternetMeme]. Off the top of my head I can think of only Alaska as surpassing it, and am not sure about Florida since it has many islands but small. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/10 "2013-08-30T19:42:06Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Insular NYC plus Long Island together would be the 11th most populated state (and would drop upstate from 3d to 8th or 9th). > > Heck, Manhattan alone outnumbers any of the 12 least-populated states. Long Island would be the island with the highest population in the United States, with about 7,700,000. The next would seem to be: Manhattan (1,600,000) Oahu (950,000) Staten Island (470,000) Hawaii (185,000) (the “big island” of the state) Rhode Island (60,000) (the island, not the state) Are there any others with a population over 50.000? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/11 "2013-08-30T19:57:13Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Are there any others with a population over 50.000? Miami Beach FL? 90,000 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/12 "2013-08-30T19:59:16Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Are there any others with a population over 50.000? I’ve now found the Wiki article [List of islands of the United States by area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_the_United_States_by_area), which also gives population. A more complete list by population is: Long Island (7,700,000) Manhattan (1,600,000) Oahu (950,000) Staten Island (470,000) Hawaii (185,000) (the “big island” of the state) Maui (120,000) Rhode Island (60,000) (the island, not the state) Kauaʻi (58,000) Whidbey Island (58,000) Galveston Island (58,000) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/13 "2013-08-30T20:04:15Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Miami Beach FL? 90,000 That’s not in the Wiki list – is it a peninsula? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/14 "2013-08-30T20:14:29Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I bet that NYS also has a high ranking for the number of square miles of islands, since Long Island is long [/obInternetMeme]. Off the top of my head I can think of only Alaska as surpassing it, and am not sure about Florida since it has many islands but small. DOH! Forgot about Hawaii. Still, NYS is probably in the top 4 if not 3. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/15 "2013-08-30T20:30:34Z")
I think the city of Miami Beach is made up of a number of islands, so that 90,000 would be split up by quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/16 "2013-08-30T20:58:47Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > I think the city of Miami Beach is made up of a number of islands, so that 90,000 would be split up by quite a bit. I think that’s probably the answer. It appears to be several separate islands connected by some causeways and many bridges. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/17 "2013-08-30T21:06:11Z")
Why don’t Guam, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands count? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-islands/667544/18 "2013-08-30T21:44:58Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > Why don’t Guam, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands count? :dubious: Because they aren’t part of the 50 states. That was specified in the OP.