Crime & Safety in Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach's crime data shows a real, below-average safety picture per CrimeGrade.org (overall D- grade, 11th percentile nationally) -- but this figure carries a genuine, important methodological caveat worth stating plainly: the rate is calculated against a small permanent resident population while the area hosts roughly 18.2 million visitors a year, a real statistical distortion common to tourist-destination cities.
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Learn moreThe Headline Numbers, Stated Honestly
CrimeGrade.org gives Myrtle Beach an overall D- grade, placing it in the 11th percentile nationally -- safer than only about 11% of measured U.S. communities. The violent crime rate is cited at 4.647 per 1,000 residents (1-in-90 annual odds of being a violent crime victim), and property crime at 2,320 incidents in the last reporting year (a rate of 5,655.5 per 100,000, or 1-in-17.7 annual odds). A separately cited overall crime rate of 68 per 1,000 residents and an estimated $1,336 in 2025 crime-related cost per household round out the picture. These are real, sourced, below-national-average figures -- not softened here.
The Real, Important Tourist-Denominator Caveat
This is a genuine methodological factor, not an excuse to dismiss the data: Myrtle Beach's crime rate is calculated against its small permanent resident population (roughly 38,000-42,000 depending on the population figure used, per the base record's disclosed range), while the area hosts an estimated 18.2 million visitors a year. A large share of recorded incidents -- theft from tourists, disputes and altercations in the entertainment/nightlife district, traffic incidents -- involve non-residents as victims, perpetrators, or both. A rate calculated purely against the small resident population, without adjusting for that massive transient population, will read meaningfully higher than a comparable non-tourist city of the same resident size actually experiences day-to-day for its permanent population. This pattern is common to tourist-destination cities generally, though this pass did not find a Myrtle Beach-specific adjusted or tourist-inclusive crime-rate calculation to cite as an alternative.
Property Crime Is the Larger Category by Volume
Consistent with most U.S. cities, property crime substantially outweighs violent crime in raw volume in Myrtle Beach -- 2,320 property crimes cited in the last reporting year, against a far lower violent-crime victimization rate (1-in-90 vs. 1-in-17.7 odds). This is worth keeping in mind when weighing the overall D- grade: a meaningful share of what drives that grade down is property crime, not violent crime specifically.
A Real, Distinct Entertainment-District and Peak-Season Factor
Myrtle Beach's tourism-heavy entertainment corridor and the seasonal surge in visitors during peak summer months are real, plausible contributing factors to crime patterns that a genuinely quiet, low-tourism residential neighborhood in the same city would not experience at the same rate -- consistent with the neighborhood-variance point below. This pass did not find a specific, sourced seasonal (summer-vs-winter) crime-rate breakdown for Myrtle Beach to cite directly, and that gap is disclosed rather than assumed.
Neighborhood-to-Neighborhood Variance Is Real
As in any city, citywide figures blend genuinely different areas -- the dense, tourism-oriented core along the Boardwalk and entertainment corridor is plausibly different in character from residential, inland neighborhoods like Carolina Forest or planned communities like Market Common, though this pass did not independently source neighborhood-specific crime comparisons for Myrtle Beach the way some other metros in this project have. Anyone evaluating a specific address should check block-level or neighborhood-specific data directly rather than relying on the citywide figure alone.
Key takeaways
- CrimeGrade.org gives Myrtle Beach an overall D- grade (11th percentile nationally), with a violent crime rate of 4.647/1,000 (1-in-90 annual odds) and 2,320 property crimes in the last reporting year (1-in-17.7 annual odds) -- real, sourced, below-average figures.
- A genuine, important caveat: this rate is calculated against a small permanent resident population (roughly 38,000-42,000) while the area hosts ~18.2 million visitors a year -- a real statistical distortion common to tourist-destination cities that this pass could not find a Myrtle Beach-specific adjusted figure to correct for.
- Property crime substantially outweighs violent crime in raw volume, consistent with most U.S. cities -- a meaningful share of the overall D- grade reflects property crime specifically.
- The tourism-heavy entertainment corridor and peak summer season plausibly contribute to crime patterns, though a specific, sourced seasonal crime-rate breakdown was not found this pass -- disclosed as a research gap rather than assumed.
- Neighborhood variance is real but was not independently sourced this pass -- check block-level data for a specific address rather than relying on the citywide figure alone.
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