Best PlacesMyrtle Beach, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Myrtle Beach metro, 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.
Photo by U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Ryan J. Courtade, via commons
Myrtle Beach ranks 285th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on empty homes and disaster risk. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Myrtle Beach metro
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 Myrtle Beach
The towns and districts of the Myrtle Beach metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
North Myrtle Beach
More adults hold degrees, biking is better, and local pay stretches further.
Murrells Inlet & Garden City
Fewer homes sit empty, though heat risk is higher.
Downtown Myrtle Beach
It is noisier and tree cover is thinner.
Little River & Longs
More residents vote, though fewer households have young kids.
Aynor & Galivants Ferry
Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.
Conway & Red Hill
Health care is harder to reach and incomes run lower.
Loris
Prices have run up less, though schools score lower.
Scores across Myrtle Beach run from about the 2nd to the 90th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Myrtle Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Myrtle Beach lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes, health care access, and quiet carry most of that.
The one real hole is empty homes, near the bottom of the country. Disaster risk and transit also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Myrtle Beach ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 88% of metro areas
- School gradeB+, better than 87% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 79% of metro areas
Where Myrtle Beach ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Myrtle Beach
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Myrtle Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $68,661; 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 Myrtle Beach's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach 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 Myrtle Beach.
Who works in Myrtle Beach, and how
Work in Myrtle Beach centers on retail trade and health care & social. 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 4%
Life in Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Myrtle Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Myrtle Beach growing, and who is moving in?
Myrtle Beach has grown about 39% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Myrtle Beach go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Myrtle Beach, month by month
Myrtle Beach sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 75° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 89° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 78° | 68° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Myrtle Beach
The nearest airport, Myrtle Beach International, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Myrtle Beach
Schools across Myrtle Beach average a B+, better than 87% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Ocean Bay ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Palmetto Academy Of Learning And Success CharterA · 70% proficient
- St. James ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ocean Bay MiddleA · 63% proficient
- St. James IntermediateA · 63% proficient
- Socastee MiddleA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- St. James HighA · 77% proficient
- Carolina Forest HighA · 72% proficient
- Socastee HighA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Myrtle Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Myrtle Beach 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 Myrtle Beach against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Myrtle Beach suits
Common questions about living in Myrtle Beach
Is Myrtle Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Myrtle Beach ranks 285th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, health care access, and quiet, and lowest on empty homes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Myrtle Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $293,647. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $68,661 median income, cost of living beats 23% of metro areas.
Is Myrtle Beach safe?
Yes, Myrtle Beach is safer than 79% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Myrtle Beach?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 38. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 37% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Myrtle Beach?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are North Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet & Garden City, and Downtown Myrtle Beach. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Myrtle Beach good for families?
Schools beat 87% of metro areas, crime safety beats 79%, and childcare runs $908 a month.
Is Myrtle Beach good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 23% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 33% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Myrtle Beach with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Myrtle Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Myrtle Beach 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.
Myrtle Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Myrtle Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Myrtle Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Myrtle Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Myrtle Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Myrtle Beach 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.