About the Hawaiian Islands Archipelago

General information and facts about the Hawaiian Islands Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

The Hawaiian Island archipelago extends approximately 1,500 miles from the Big Island of Hawaii in the southeast to the Kure Atoll in the northwest. All of the populated Hawaiian islands are on the southeast end of the archipelago. These are the only islands with tourism infrastructure and visitor facilities.

All of the islands in the archipelago are within the U.S. State of Hawaii except the Midway Atoll, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States within a statistical category known as the United States Minor Outlying islands.

All of the Hawaiian Islands (except the Midway Atoll) are located within four counties of the State of Hawaii: Hawaii County, Honolulu County, Kauai County, and Maui County. The Island of Oahu and the northeast Hawaiian Islands are within Honolulu County. Maui Island, Lanai Island, Molokai Island, and Kahoolawe Island are within Maui County. Kauai Island and Niihau Island are within Kauai County. The Big Island of hawaii is within Hawaii County.

The Hawaiian islands are typically grouped by location with the larger islands of the southeast in one group and the smaller and virtually unpopulated islands of the northwest in another group:

Southeast Hawaiian Islands

Northwest Hawaiian Islands

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About the Islands of Hawaii

Towns of Hawaii

Counties of Hawaii

Hawaii for Visitors

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