Is Myrtle Beach a Good Place to Live?
Conditionally yes -- Myrtle Beach is a genuinely strong choice for retirees, beach-focused buyers, and short-term-rental investors who can underwrite real seasonal income honestly, backed by a currently #1-nationally-ranked relocation-demand signal and below-national-average home prices, but it asks real, ongoing acceptance of genuinely severe hurricane/flood risk, rising insurance costs, a structurally tourism-dependent seasonal job market, and a real income gap between the city's own wage base and the broader county/state/national figures.
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Learn moreThe Strongest Case for Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach combines a genuinely major, currently accelerating relocation-demand signal (#1 nationally per moveBuddha's 2025-2026 report, 3.28 in-moves per exit) with home prices running about 32% below the national average in a real buyer's market, real and substantial tax benefits for retirees (fully exempt Social Security, coordinated retirement-income deductions), an already-large retiree community (27.6% of Horry County is 65+), and a genuine, quantified beach-and-golf recreational identity ($1.6 billion golf-tourism economy alone). Few other metros in a national relocation-content build combine this specific blend of currently-peaking inbound demand, below-average home prices, and dedicated retiree tax benefits.
The Honest Trade-offs
Against that: Myrtle Beach carries genuinely severe, historically documented hurricane and coastal-flood risk (Hazel 1954, Matthew 2016, Florence 2018 -- real, not hypothetical events with real, quantified damage), and South Carolina's homeowners insurance already ranks 16th-most-expensive nationally with Horry County specifically facing a projected 90% premium increase over the next decade. The local job market is genuinely, structurally tourism-dependent (26.7% of metro jobs in leisure/hospitality) rather than diversified, and the city's own median household income ($53,679) runs well below the county, state, and national figures -- a real income gap that below-national-average home prices don't erase for anyone depending on local employment. South Carolina's 2026 income-tax overhaul (Act 110) meaningfully lowered rates but remains a real, structural income tax, not a no-tax setup. And CrimeGrade.org's D- overall safety grade, while carrying a genuine tourist-town-denominator caveat, is a real, disclosed data point rather than a footnote.
Who It Is -- and Isn't -- Genuinely Right For
Myrtle Beach is a strong fit for retirees and near-retirees prioritizing real SC tax benefits and an already-large retiree community, beach-focused buyers and short-term-rental investors who underwrite seasonal income honestly, and anyone drawn to being part of a currently fast-growing, in-demand relocation market. It is a weaker fit for anyone highly risk-averse to hurricane/coastal-flood exposure, anyone needing a diversified non-seasonal local job market, anyone whose income must closely track the city's own (below-county/state/national) wage base, and anyone specifically seeking a no-income-tax state.
Bottom Line
Myrtle Beach earns a conditional "good place to live" answer on the strength of a genuinely strong, currently-peaking relocation-demand signal, real below-average home prices, and real retiree-specific tax benefits -- not on hazard risk, insurance cost, job-market diversification, or local wage levels, where it runs genuinely more demanding than several inland or no-tax peers. It rewards people who weigh the beach lifestyle, retiree tax benefits, and relocation momentum heavily, who bring income independent of the local tourism-driven wage base where possible, and who do the real homework -- a specific property's flood zone and insurance quote, a specific neighborhood's school assignment, a realistic (not peak-season) rental-income projection -- rather than relying on a single reassuring headline about home prices or a single alarming headline about hurricanes.
Key takeaways
- Myrtle Beach's strongest case: a currently #1-nationally-ranked relocation-demand signal, home prices ~32% below the national average, real and substantial retiree tax benefits, and a genuine, quantified beach-and-golf recreational economy.
- Its real trade-offs: genuinely severe, historically documented hurricane/flood risk with rising insurance costs; a structurally tourism-dependent seasonal job market; a real gap between the city's own median household income and county/state/national figures; and a real 2026 income tax (not a no-tax setup).
- It is a strong fit for retirees, beach-focused buyers/STR investors who underwrite honestly, and movers drawn to fast-growing relocation momentum; a weaker fit for anyone highly hurricane-risk-averse, needing job-market diversification, or seeking a no-income-tax state.
- The honest answer is conditional, not universal -- it depends heavily on how much weight beach lifestyle, retiree tax benefits, and relocation momentum carry against hazard risk, insurance cost, and local wage levels for the specific person asking, and on doing real, property- and neighborhood-specific homework rather than relying on a single headline in either direction.
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