Living in Myrtle Beach, SC

Horry County

Myrtle Beach's identity runs through a genuine, current, and unusually strong relocation-demand signal layered onto a real, historically severe hurricane-exposure profile -- neither of which should be understated relative to the other. On the demand side: moveBuddha's 5th annual Migration Report (2025-2026, based on roughly half a million real moving-cost searches) found Myrtle Beach had the highest in-moves-to-out-moves ratio of any U.S. city measured -- 3.28 in-moves per exit, the report's outright #1 national ranking -- consistent with South Carolina placing #1 among states for in-moves versus exits for a third consecutive year. This is a real, large-scale, currently accelerating relocation pipeline, not a marginal signal, and it runs alongside genuine, substantial year-round retiree in-migration: 27.6% of Horry County residents are already 65 or older, well above the national share. But Myrtle Beach's economy is honestly, structurally different from a diversified metro: leisure and hospitality alone accounted for 26.7% of all metro-area nonfarm jobs in June 2026 (44,400 jobs), and hospitality specifically makes up 27.4% of the Myrtle Beach workforce -- no other single industry comes close, a real seasonal-tourism dependency rather than a false generalization. Golf is a genuinely distinct, quantified pillar within that tourism economy: a $1.6 billion 2024 economic impact across 78 courses, supporting 13,340 jobs. Healthcare (9.6% of the workforce) is real and separately growing, anchored by Grand Strand Medical Center's Level 1 trauma designation and the region's largest system, Tidelands Health, operating in partnership with MUSC. On cost: Myrtle Beach's median home price runs a real, sourced roughly 32% below the national average (Redfin: $258,000 over the three months through June 2026, though Zillow's differently-methodologized estimate ran $323,460 for the same period) in a genuine current buyer's market (121 median days on market, about 1 offer per listing) -- but South Carolina's 2026 income-tax overhaul (Act 110/H.4216, signed March 30, 2026) is a real, major, currently effective structural change, not a no-income-tax setup: two brackets, 1.99% on the first $30,000 of taxable income and 5.21% above, with Social Security fully exempt and real, if coordinated-not-additive, deductions for filers 65+. And Myrtle Beach carries real, historically severe, and ongoing hurricane and coastal-flood risk that this record does not soften: Hurricane Hazel (1954, Category 4) destroyed more than 80% of Grand Strand oceanfront property and produced the East Coast's second-highest recorded storm surge; Hurricane Matthew (2016) passed its center directly over the city; Hurricane Florence (2018) re-flooded many of the same Horry County homes Matthew had damaged two years earlier. South Carolina's average homeowners premium already ranks 16th-most-expensive nationally, and Horry County specifically is projected toward a 90% premium increase over the next decade -- a real, current, and rising cost pressure layered on top of the area's genuine relocation-demand strength, not a footnote to it.

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Housing

Median sale price$258,000

Taxes

Local effective property tax rateNot yet verified

Not independently sourced at the Horry County level this session. South Carolina's top state income tax rate is 5.21%. See the South Carolina hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Myrtle Beach-specific.

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The tradeoffs

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 this fits

Best for: 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.

Maybe not for you if: Buyers seeking a no-income-tax state should weigh South Carolina's real, current 1.99%/5.21% two-bracket income tax against genuinely no-tax Sun Belt peers; anyone highly sensitive to hurricane/coastal-flood risk or rising homeowners-insurance costs should weigh the Grand Strand's real, documented history (Hazel, Matthew, Florence) and Horry County's projected 90% decade-long premium increase seriously rather than assuming a "mostly spared" storm like Dorian (2019) is the norm; and anyone needing a diversified, non-seasonal local job market beyond tourism/hospitality and its adjacent sectors (golf, healthcare) should weigh the area's real, structural leisure-and-hospitality dependence (26.7% of metro nonfarm jobs) honestly.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-24. Independent research; see individual metric entries above for source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.