Which island ?

You want beaches or low rent? As far as beaches go you will get all sorts of responses. Coming from me I would say St John first, then St Thomas and finally St Croix. A lot of it is personal preference.

There are very few places to keep a boat on STJ and no skiing allowed in NPS waters there - there are a lot more destinations close by to boat to from STT or STJ, not so much from STX. Rents on STT are not that much different overall than STX - reasonable places can be found on both islands.
Reading the forum back 3-6 months is good homework.

Coming from the Gulf coast of Florida, I can tell you that there are NO white sand beaches on either St John or St Thomas, BUT there are gorgeous beaches here. Santa Maria, Secret Harbour, Sandy Bay and Mermaid's Chair, Linquist -- all really beautiful beaches! Then there's St John, something like 3/4 of the island is a National Park. Oppenheimer, Denis, Jumbie, Maho, Lameshur -- beaches so amazing that they will blow your mind. Personally, I feel like St Thomas has the best of everything. It is somewhat less expensive to live here than St John, but has some out of the way beaches, plenty of things to do, including island hop! Live on STT and play on STJ 😎 Plus, as someone above said, you are close enough to be able to visit the BVIs easily.