Living in Conway, SC

Horry County

Conway is Horry County's seat -- not a beach town at all, but a real, historic riverfront city on the Waccamaw River, roughly 15 miles inland from Myrtle Beach, and the more-affordable inland alternative to beachfront Grand Strand housing prices. That affordability is the city's defining, real value proposition: Conway's median home price ($280,000-$319,880 depending on source) runs meaningfully below both Myrtle Beach's own $258,000-$323,460 range and especially North Myrtle Beach's $397,671 average documented elsewhere in this dataset, with one source specifically framing Conway as offering "coastal lifestyle for half the price of Myrtle Beach." Coastal Carolina University, ranked the 7th-best university in South Carolina by Niche, anchors Conway's identity as a genuine college town rather than a satellite of the beach economy, alongside Horry-Georgetown Technical College's main campus directly adjacent to CCU (90% of HGTC graduates stay in the local area). Conway shares Horry County Schools (Niche A- overall) with Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach, with Conway's own elementary and middle schools specifically cited among the Top 10 in the broader Myrtle Beach metro area. Conway's real, distinct hazard profile is Waccamaw River flooding, not direct coastal storm surge, even though both are hurricane-driven: the river's 2018 Hurricane Florence crest at Conway (21.16 feet) broke the prior 2016 Hurricane Matthew record (17.9 feet) by more than 3 feet, flooding nearly 1,000 homes and businesses near the river (some five feet deep) and causing an estimated $49 million in residential damage across Horry County, with the river staying above flood stage for 29 days. This genuine, repeated, escalating flood-risk pattern is a real reason Conway's own homeowners-insurance premium ($4,275/year cited) runs above the SC statewide average despite sitting inland of the beach itself. Crime data reads less favorably than the shared school district might suggest -- an overall D safety grade and 30.73-per-1,000 crime rate, disclosed honestly. Conway Medical Center (222 beds, 1,500+ employees) gives the city a real, substantial local healthcare-employment anchor distinct from the coastal Grand Strand's own hospital system.

Explore Conway in depth

• Moving to Conway: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in Conway
• Housing Market in Conway
• Buying a Home in Conway
• Renting in Conway
• Taxes in Conway
• Homeowners Insurance & Natural Hazard Costs in Conway
• Climate & Weather in Conway
• Jobs & Economy in Conway
• Schools in Conway
• Crime & Safety in Conway
• Healthcare in Conway
• Traffic & Transportation in Conway
• Best Areas to Live in Conway
• Pros and Cons of Living in Conway
• Retiring in Conway
• Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Conway

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Buyers wanting genuine affordability relative to beachfront Grand Strand pricing, a real college-town identity via Coastal Carolina University, and a historic riverfront setting distinct from the coastal tourism economy.

Maybe not for you if: Buyers prioritizing direct beach access should compare directly against Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle Beach (documented separately in this dataset); buyers should specifically confirm a target property's flood-zone status and river-flood history given Conway's real, documented, repeated Waccamaw River flooding record, and review crime data by specific neighborhood given the city's overall D safety grade.