4 SECRET American Territories – Places Where an American Can Move to Without a Visa

You’ve probably already run the numbers on moving abroad. The residency visa. The proof of income. The sworn translator, the immigration lawyer and all those fees. And under all of it, the question nobody answers is: what happens to my Medicare? My Social Security? My pension?

Now cross all of that off your list. Because today I will show you four places where an American can move to without a visa, sign a lease, and simply live — permanently. No need for a visa or a permit. No immigration officer with an opinion about you.

There, Social Security still pays you. Medicare is still accepted. You keep your passport and your dollars. These places are not loopholes. They are American soil. And almost nobody thinks about them when looking for a place to live a better life for a much lower price.

Because we’ve been trained to think “moving abroad” always means a border, a visa, a stamp. Of course each of these forgotten places have multiple pros, and some cons. One’s a genuine bargain but sometimes there are hurricanes. And another has a crime problem similar to Philadelphia – but at least with much lower property prices. Still, all of them are truly beautiful, sunny places.

But what does it mean to be “an American Territory”? Is it the same as a US State? Well, no. But they are not a completely different country either. Legally, moving to any of these four places is the same as moving from Ohio to Florida. Change of address, local driver’s license, done. No visa, no permit, no minimum investment.

I ranked these on what actually matters: hospital depth, how fast and cheap you can reach family back home, real monthly cost, and safety.

Let’s start with…

Number 4: The Northern Mariana Islands

Never heard of them? Exactly. That’s the appeal — and the warning. A chain of islands in the far western Pacific, just north of Guam, and almost everyone lives on one of them: Saipan, around 43,000 residents.

And here’s the bargain I promised at the start — you can rent an entire house in Saipan for less than US$1,000. Crime is practically a rumor: homicides most years are in the low single digits across the entire CNMI (Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands). And the scenery punches far above the price.

So why is this the one I’d tell most of you to avoid? Three reasons, and each one is heavy.

First, the economy is in free fall. The casino business that was once promoted as a $3 billion investment now stands abandoned in the middle of Garapan. GDP shrank from almost $1.2 billion to $860 million. Tourism — the only industry left — fell another 32% in 2025, and the Hotel Hyatt closed after 43 years. Those cheap rents exist because the population dropped from about 69,000 in 2000 to around 44,000 today. A bargain built on decline is still a bargain — but you’re moving into the decline too.

Second, healthcare. One hospital. Eighty-six beds. The hospital is Medicare-certified and covers emergencies, general surgery, dialysis. But if you need any procedure not offered by this hospital, you need to fly to somewhere else.

Third, the distance and the deed. There’s no nonstop flight from the Northern Mariana Islands to the US — or even to Hawaii. Just to Asia or Guam. The 136-mile hop to Guam typically costs around $600 round trip, more than double a Saipan–Seoul return at around $240. A full journey home costs $2,000 or more, and might take more than 24 hours each way. Also, under Article XII of the local constitution, only people of Northern Marianas descent can own land outright. You can lease for up to 55 years, but you will never hold the title.

Oh — and those hurricanes I mentioned? Out there they’re called typhoons. Super Typhoon Yutu struck in 2018 with winds near 180 miles per hour — the strongest storm to hit U.S. soil since 1935 — destroying more than 3,000 homes. Living there means living in reinforced concrete.

To be fair, many things improved there — internet, for example. Now with Starlink, it is no longer a problem. And residents describe a culture of respetu — deep respect, especially for elders — where daily life runs on personal relationships.

The person this place suits: someone healthy, funded entirely from outside — a pension, remote income — happy to rent forever, and hungry for real solitude.

The next place on our list is similar, but without the issue of the distance — it is much closer to the US!

Number 3: The U.S. Virgin Islands

Caribbean beaches, American law, and English as the language of everything — the only territory of the four where that’s true. It’s also the only place under the U.S. flag where you drive on the left. In fact it is the only place on earth where cars with a left seat also drive on the left (meaning you drive close to the white lines, not to the yellow middle lines). Confusing for a week, a party trick forever.

A person who lived there for 11 years described that sensation of driving on the left while using American cars for us:

I just got used to it. The main disadvantage of this system was that there were lots of blind corners, and headlights were more blinding at night. The main advantages were that the VI is the only place on earth with such a system and I think that’s really cool.

You get three very different islands. St. Thomas, about 42,000 people, is the busy one — the capital Charlotte Amalie, steep hills, cruise ships. St. Croix, 40 miles south with about 41,000 people, is flatter, quieter, more residential — and a lot cheaper. St. John, just 4,000 residents, is two-thirds national park and priced like the jewel it is. Magens Bay Beach on St. Thomas is often listed among the best beaches of the world, year after year.

There are some other islands in the archipelago where certain powerful people done very nasty things, but let’s leave that topic aside… I don’t want to disappear, you know?

And there’s a tax story almost nobody talks about. The Economic Development Commission program — the EDC — can cut income tax by up to 90% for qualifying businesses that relocate operations there and hire locally.

Now the trade-offs.

One: cost. A modest rental in Charlotte Amalie averages around $1,500 a month, groceries are up to 40% above mainland prices, electricity costs about 42 cents per kilowatt-hour — the highest rate under the U.S. flag, about two and a half times the mainland average. In practice, solar panels with batteries stop being a lifestyle choice and become basic infrastructure.

Two: hospitals. In September 2017, two Category 5 hurricanes — Irma and Maria — hit within two weeks, and FEMA declared the St. Croix hospital beyond repair. Nine years later, care there still happens in a hardened temporary facility with about 53 inpatient beds, and the heart-procedure service that was lost was never restored. The rebuilds — estimated at almost $700 million for one hospital and over $800 million for the other — only got their first major contract approved in 2025. Advanced cancer care, cardiac work, complex surgery: for these, routine transfers to the mainland or to a neighbor might be needed.

In terms of violence, the numbers are similar to Jamaica’s, about four times Mexico’s rate. However, local officials describe the violence as very localized and concentrated in specific neighborhoods far from where expats live. Tourists are very rarely victims, and St. John often records zero homicides in a year.

The US Virgin Islands is a place for those who look for specific tax incentives, and value hunters eyeing St. Croix with solar on the roof and a medevac policy in the drawer. If you’re managing a serious medical condition today, it is not the best choice for now.

Next, we cross to the other side of the planet — where the crime problem disappears.

Before we get to the top two territories, I need to give you a quick warning. Choosing the wrong country to move to during retirement is one of the most expensive mistakes you can make. But what if you didn’t have to guess?

Now, back to…

Number 2: Guam

The simplest way to understand Guam: Hawaii’s climate and American infrastructure at about half Hawaii’s housing cost, with your grandchildren fourteen time zones away.

Start with the money. The median single-family home is about $300 per square foot. Hawaii? Around $650. Property tax is below 1% of assessed value. If you ever dreamed of Pacific island life, saw the prices of Honolulu, and laughed — Guam is the version that might be more affordable.

It’s also the safest territory in this entire ranking. Homicides are typically in the single digits each year — around 2 to 5 per 100,000 – way lower than in the United States. It all comes down to the local social fabric. Guam is shaped by 19 distinct villages rather than bustling cities, places with tight-knit communities.

Healthcare is the strongest in the U.S. Pacific: Guam Memorial Hospital, the modern private Guam Regional Medical City, plus a U.S. Naval Hospital.

Taxes are quietly friendly. Guam uses a “mirror code” — you pay federal taxes, but the money goes to Guam’s treasury — with no state or local income tax stacked on top. Arriving from a high-tax state, that’s basically a pay raise. And the internet is fast, since Guam is a major junction for Pacific submarine cables, with more than a dozen systems landing on the island.

Two caveats, though. The cost of living is on average 25% higher than in the US; a two-person household needs around $3,000 a month. The second is… the distance. Look at the map — Guam is about 6,000 miles from the West Coast. A mainland trip takes around 20 hours door to door and realistically costs $1,000 to over $2,000 round trip — in high season, the Guam–Honolulu leg alone can reach $3,800. Your daughter calls from Ohio; your first grandchild arrived early. You’ll hold that baby in about two days, several thousand dollars later.

It feels isolated because it is isolated – and that is how a person who lived there described the island to us:

I lived there for 6 months. I was not in the military which has a huge presence there, leading to some interesting things (lots of strip clubs, for example). For non-military folks there isn’t much to do — so people tended to form strong groups with people they work with or of similar nationalities and hang out with them at beaches, go hiking, etc.

Then there are the typhoons — Mawar in 2023 was the strongest strike in over two decades, with weeks-long outages in parts of the island. The good news? In Guam, buildings use reinforced concrete with strict standards, so storms play out very differently there than in wood-frame Caribbean housing.

Guam is good for military retirees and anyone whose work or heart points toward Asia, but not for people with tight mainland family ties.

Which brings us to the winner.

Number 1: Puerto Rico

Let’s talk about its dark side first. The island’s homicide rate is 15 per 100,000 — almost triple the U.S. national rate of 6. However, violence is concentrated in drug-trade-connected zones of specific metropolitan barrios; the districts where foreigners live — Condado, Old San Juan, Dorado, Rincón — have far lower rates.

And the property prices? Housing is around 50% cheaper than the U.S. average. A one-bedroom in San Juan costs around $900 a month; in other cities, you can find a place for as low as $600. If you’re weighing retiring in Puerto Rico specifically, this is where the math starts.

And the lower prices are just the beginning of the pros. Puerto Rico is also very close to the US, and flights are cheap. It is a two and a half hours flight from Miami, and round trips routinely cost less than $300.

Healthcare facilities are also quite developed. There are university teaching hospitals, and Auxilio Mutuo now offers CAR-T therapy, a cutting-edge cancer treatment. No other territory comes close.

But there’s an important issue: the higher payments in continental America are driving doctors away. A local physician earns about $160,000 on average, compared to nearly $230,000 in the States. This brain drain is colliding with a looming retirement crisis, as 47% of the island’s active doctors are already over 60. The shortage bites hardest outside the capital region. The practical rule: live within reach of metropolitan San Juan.

In terms of cost of living, realistic budgets are around $2,000 a month for a lean, local-style life, or around $4,500 for a comfortable one. Entrepreneurs get Act 60: a 4% corporate rate on exported services and 0% local tax on certain capital gains — if you become a resident by living there 183 days a year, and show real ties, because the IRS audits this.

Now the biggest flaw, and it isn’t crime. It’s the electrical grid. Since a new operator took over transmission in 2021, outages rose over 30%. A typical family lost power 19 times in 2024, and on April 16, 2025, the entire island — all 1.4 million customers — went dark at once. Pending proposals could push rates up 40% from an already-high almost 30 cents per kilowatt-hour. That’s why solar panels and batteries became quite popular. Hurricane Maria in 2017 caused the longest blackout in U.S. history.

One more thing: Spanish is the language of daily life outside the metro. English carries you through San Juan and professional settings, but this island opens differently in Spanish — prices included.

Now, talking about Puerto Rico, Spanish and the Caribbean, some other countries in the region offer low cost of living with an even better quality of life. You can read more about the best places to live in Central America and the Caribbean in another of our articles.

If you’d rather buy your way into a residency instead of relying on territorial status, we also cover how buying cheap property gives Americans a residency visa in several countries. And if you’re still weighing the U.S. against a move overseas altogether, our comparison of U.S. states vs. Europe is worth a look.

For a broader view of where to go next, we put together a full guide on where to move abroad, covering the countries and territories that make the most sense depending on your budget, healthcare needs, and how far you’re willing to go.

Levi Borba is the founder of expatriateconsultancy.com, creator of the YouTube channel The Expat, and a best-selling author. Some of the links in our articles may be affiliated links, meaning the author earns a small commission if you make a purchase.