Best PlacesGeorgetown County, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Georgetown County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Georgetown County ranks 2,354th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on health care access.
The best neighborhoods in Georgetown County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Georgetown County
The parts of Georgetown County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Pawleys Island
Crime runs lower, schools score higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Murrells Inlet
Fewer households have young kids and heat risk is higher.
Georgetown
Homes cost less, though local pay stretches less far.
Andrews
Prices have run up less, though commutes are longer.
Scores across Georgetown County run from about the 1st to the 87th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Georgetown County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Georgetown County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 83% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 77% of counties
Where Georgetown County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 17% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of counties
- Short commute29.1 minutes each way, better than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Georgetown County
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Georgetown County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $72,811; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Georgetown County's effective rate of 0.44%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Georgetown County
Georgetown County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Georgetown County.
Who works in Georgetown County, and how
Work in Georgetown County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Georgetown County
Georgetown County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Georgetown County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Georgetown County growing, and who is moving in?
Georgetown County has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Myrtle Beach, SC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Georgetown County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Georgetown County, month by month
Georgetown County sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 66° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Georgetown County
The nearest airport, Myrtle Beach International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Georgetown County
Schools across Georgetown County average a C+, better than 60% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Seaside ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Coastal Montessori CharterB− · 40% proficient
- Pleasant Hill ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waccamaw IntermediateA · 61% proficient
- Georgetown MiddleD · 21% proficient
- Carvers Bay MiddleF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- St. James HighA · 77% proficient
- Waccamaw HighA · 72% proficient
- Philip Simmons HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Georgetown County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Georgetown County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Georgetown County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Georgetown County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 56% of counties, health care access beats 90%, and it is quieter than 66%.
Common questions about living in Georgetown County
Is Georgetown County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Georgetown County ranks 2,354th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Georgetown County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $327,491. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $72,811 median income, cost of living beats 57% of counties.
Is Georgetown County safe?
Georgetown County is safer than 24% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $613 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Georgetown County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 38. That works out to about 94 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Georgetown County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Pawleys Island, Murrells Inlet, and Georgetown. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Georgetown County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Georgetown County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Georgetown County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Georgetown County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Georgetown County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Georgetown County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Georgetown County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Georgetown County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Georgetown County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.