Charleston vs Myrtle Beach
Charleston, SC · Myrtle Beach, SC
A cheaper, more tourism-and-golf-driven Grand Strand alternative to Charleston's historic-district prices and denser peninsula living.
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Learn moreThe numbers
See each place's individual page for full source attribution on every figure above. Where a value reads "Not yet verified," it means we haven't independently sourced that figure for this specific place yet -- not that it's zero. The state income tax rate is identical here because both places are in the same state -- the property tax row above is where the real local difference shows up.
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Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Charleston
Pros: A genuinely rare historic-preservation identity (the nation's first, 1931-era preservation ordinance) paired with a real, currently-expanding, diversified jobs base -- a $1B/1,000-job Boeing Dreamliner expansion, a $11B-impact military installation at Joint Base Charleston, a 12-consecutive-year #1-ranked hospital system in MUSC Health, and a record-breaking, higher-value-focused tourism economy ($14.3B+ impact in 2025); an unusually low average effective property tax rate (~0.32%) among the lowest of any market in this project; real, growing "Silicon Harbor" tech-sector momentum layered on top of aerospace, healthcare, and tourism.
Cons: A real, current housing-affordability gap -- a roughly $623,000 Charleston County median sale price against a county median household income in the mid-$80,000s to low-$90,000s, compounded by rent estimates ranging widely by source (roughly $1,200-$2,900/month) and homeowners insurance running a genuine premium (~$5,000-$5,400/year) above the already-elevated SC state average; direct, serious coastal hazard exposure honestly disclosed rather than downplayed -- Hurricane Hugo's 1989 Category 4 landfall remains the historical benchmark, and the Charleston peninsula experiences real, currently-tracked "sunny day" tidal flooding (51 events in 2025) independent of any storm; property crime running about 18% above the national average even as violent crime sits near the national average and 2024 year-over-year crime trends improved substantially; a genuinely congested I-26 corridor and comparatively modest CARTA transit ridership relative to the metro's population.
Myrtle Beach
Pros: A genuinely major, currently accelerating relocation-demand signal -- the #1-ranked U.S. city for inbound-move share nationally per moveBuddha's 2025-2026 report (3.28 in-moves per exit), inside a state that has ranked #1 for in-moves-vs-exits three years running; real, substantial year-round retiree in-migration (27.6% of Horry County residents are 65+) alongside genuinely strong tax benefits for that group (Social Security fully exempt, real if coordinated retirement-income deductions); a median home price running roughly 32% below the national average in a real, current buyer's market; a genuinely distinct, quantified $1.6 billion golf-tourism economy on top of broader hospitality; and a real, growing healthcare sector anchored by a Level 1 trauma center and the region's largest hospital system.
Cons: A genuinely severe, historically documented hurricane and coastal-flood risk (Hazel 1954, Matthew 2016, Florence 2018) with South Carolina's homeowners insurance already ranking 16th-most-expensive nationally and Horry County specifically facing a projected 90% premium increase over the next decade; a structurally tourism-dependent, seasonal job market (hospitality alone is 27.4% of the Myrtle Beach workforce) rather than a diversified metro economy, with a city-level median household income ($53,679) running well below the county, state, and national figures even as home prices run below the national average; South Carolina's real 2026 income-tax restructuring (1.99%/5.21% two-bracket system) is a genuine, if moderate, tax burden, not a no-income-tax setup like several Sun Belt peers; and Myrtle Beach's below-average CrimeGrade.org safety rating (D-, 11th percentile), while carrying a real tourist-town-denominator caveat, is a disclosed, not-hidden data point.
Who each one fits
Charleston
Buyers and movers drawn to a genuinely rare historic-peninsula identity, a real and currently-expanding aerospace/military/healthcare/tourism jobs base, and a real, unusually low property tax rate -- who can absorb the area's current housing-affordability gap, its genuinely elevated homeowners and flood insurance costs, and its real, direct coastal hurricane and tidal-flooding exposure.
Myrtle Beach
Retirees and near-retirees drawn to real, substantial 65+ tax benefits (fully exempt Social Security, coordinated retirement-income deductions) and an already-large, growing retiree community (27.6% of Horry County is 65+); beach-focused buyers and short-term-rental investors who can budget honestly for the area's real, current buyer's-market home pricing and genuinely seasonal (summer-concentrated) vacation-rental income pattern; and buyers specifically drawn to the strength of the area's currently-#1-nationally relocation-demand momentum per moveBuddha's 2025-2026 report.
Want the full picture on either one? Read the standalone pages for Charleston and Myrtle Beach.
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