Cost of Living in South Carolina
South Carolina's cost of living is shaped by a genuinely low, well-corroborated property tax and a newly simplified (if still-settling) income tax, layered on top of real regional variation between Charleston's and Greenville's more expensive housing markets, Myrtle Beach's genuinely affordable one, and county-by-county sales-tax and homeowners-insurance differences this record does not flatten into one statewide number.
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Learn moreProperty tax is a clear, low-uncertainty cost advantage
South Carolina's roughly 0.51% statewide effective property tax rate on owner-occupied housing (Tax Foundation, 2026) sits well below the roughly 0.91% national average -- and owner-occupants pay an even more favorable effective rate once the 4% legal-residence assessment ratio (versus 6% for non-owner-occupied property) is applied, see the property-taxes topic. County-level rates still vary, from roughly 0.36% in Calhoun County to roughly 0.71% in Bamberg County per one county-aggregator source (flagged low-confidence in this dataset's own research).
Income tax changed materially and very recently -- budget for a moving target
Act 110 replaced South Carolina's old three-bracket 0%/3%/6% income tax with two brackets (1.99%/5.21%) for tax years beginning after 2025, with a statutory mechanism aimed at further rate reductions starting tax year 2027 if revenue growth targets are met. Social Security income is fully exempt at any age, and residents 65+ get a combined maximum $15,000 in age-65 and retirement-income deductions (not $25,000 -- see the income-taxes and retiring topics for the coordination mechanic).
Sales tax and homeowners insurance are the two genuinely local pieces of your budget
South Carolina's 6.00% state sales tax base gets a real local-option add-on in many counties, reaching a combined 9.00% in Charleston, Myrtle Beach/Horry County, Hilton Head, and the Columbia/Richland County area against a roughly 7.49% statewide average. Homeowners insurance carries a genuinely wide, unresolved statewide range (roughly $2,004 to $3,100/year across sources reviewed) that understates real coastal-specific premiums -- confirm both figures for your specific target county before finalizing a budget.
Housing costs diverge sharply by region -- do not budget off one statewide figure
Charleston carries some of the state's most expensive housing (Charleston County's median sale price runs well above the county's median household income), Greenville's city-proper median sale price runs above the June 2026 national median even as its countywide median runs below it, Myrtle Beach's median sale price runs roughly 32% below the national median, and Columbia's runs roughly 30% below national -- four genuinely different housing-cost stories inside one state. See the housing-market and best-places-to-live topics.
Key takeaways
- South Carolina's roughly 0.51% statewide effective property tax rate is a clear, well-corroborated cost advantage, well below the national average -- and better still for owner-occupants under the 4% legal-residence assessment ratio.
- Income tax was restructured by Act 110 into two brackets (1.99%/5.21%) for tax years after 2025, with further reductions possible starting 2027 -- a genuinely moving target, not a fixed figure to budget against for the long term.
- Sales tax reaches a combined 9.00% in Charleston, Myrtle Beach/Horry County, Hilton Head, and the Columbia/Richland County area, against a roughly 7.49% statewide average -- confirm your specific county.
- Housing costs vary sharply by region: Charleston and Greenville-city-proper run at a real premium, while Myrtle Beach and Columbia run meaningfully below the national median sale price.
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