Retiring to Myrtle Beach SC: Costs, Taxes and Where to Live

Why Retirees Are Moving to Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach is the fastest-growing metro area in the United States for people 65 and over — faster than anywhere in Florida.

U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach metro area, released June 2025. The national 65+ population grew 3.1% in the same year.

The reasons are not complicated. South Carolina has among the lowest property taxes in the country and does not tax Social Security. A house here costs a fraction of what the same house costs in the Northeast. The weather is mild enough for golf twelve months a year without the Florida summer, and the Grand Strand has around 80 golf courses, 60 miles of beach and a medical system that added its sixth hospital in 2026. Myrtle Beach also sits a day's drive from most of the East Coast, so family can visit without flying, and when they do fly, the airport has nonstop service from more than 50 cities.

There are more than 40 active adult and 55+ communities across the Grand Strand, which is more than any comparable stretch of the Carolina coast. That is the subject of my Myrtle Beach Retirement Communities page. This page covers the rest of the decision: what retirement actually costs here, how the tax picture works for a retiree, what healthcare looks like, and which part of the Grand Strand fits which kind of retirement.

South Carolina Taxes for Retirees

Four separate breaks apply to a retiree in South Carolina, and most people moving here know about one of them.

Deduction amounts per the South Carolina Department of Revenue. South Carolina has been cutting its top income tax rate each year since 2022, so check the current rate with the Department of Revenue rather than relying on a figure published elsewhere.

Put together, a retired couple each drawing Social Security and a modest pension can have very little South Carolina income tax to pay. Sales tax is 9% inside the City of Myrtle Beach and 8% in most of unincorporated Horry County, and groceries are exempt. There is no estate tax and no inheritance tax in South Carolina.

Property Tax at 65: the Homestead Exemption

Property tax is where South Carolina separates itself from most states, and retirees get a further break. Every owner-occupied primary residence is assessed at 4% of market value instead of 6% and is exempt from the school operating millage, which is the largest piece of the local rate. At 65, once you have held South Carolina residency for a year, the homestead exemption removes the first $50,000 of your home's market value from the assessment on top of that.

What Retirement Costs in Myrtle Beach Each Month

The question retirees ask most is what a paid-off house here costs to keep. The answer depends on the neighborhood, and the biggest variable is not the tax bill. Here is a $350,000 primary residence in Carolina Forest, which is unincorporated Horry County and the lowest tax rate in the county, with the homestead exemption applied.

Two things stand out. The property tax on a $350,000 home works out to less than $100 a month, which is a fraction of what the same house costs in New Jersey, New York or Connecticut. And the association fee can be two or three times the tax bill, so what the fee covers matters more than the tax rate when comparing two communities. A fee that includes lawn care, the clubhouse and the pools is a different number from one that covers the gate and little else.

Insurance is the cost that surprises people. Coastal South Carolina homeowners insurance includes wind coverage and runs higher than inland states. Newer homes built to current wind codes, and homes west of the Intracoastal Waterway, insure for less. Flood insurance is only required by a lender when the home is in a mapped Special Flood Hazard Area, and a large share of Carolina Forest, Conway and the inland 55+ communities sit outside those zones. Ask for an insurance quote and an elevation certificate on any home you are serious about; it is a ten-minute phone call that settles a four-figure question.

Healthcare in Myrtle Beach

Healthcare is the question that decides a retirement move for many people, and the Grand Strand has grown into its population. There are six hospitals between Little River and Georgetown, the newest of them opened in fall 2026, and the main one is a Level I trauma center.

• Grand Strand Medical Center, Myrtle Beach 403 beds. Level I adult trauma center, the only one on the South Carolina coast north of Charleston, with a certified Comprehensive Stroke Center, cardiac surgery and neurosurgery.
• McLeod Health Carolina Forest Hospital, Carolina Forest The Grand Strand's newest hospital, opened fall 2026: 48 beds on four floors, a 24-hour emergency department, surgery, full imaging and rehabilitation, inside Carolina Forest itself. The first new hospital built in Horry County since 2011.
• Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital, Murrells Inlet Serves the south end of the Grand Strand, with Tidelands Georgetown Memorial further south.
• Conway Medical Center, Conway Full-service hospital serving Conway and the inland communities.
• McLeod Health Seacoast, Little River Serves North Myrtle Beach, Little River and Longs, with McLeod Loris inland.

Specialist care follows the hospitals: cardiology, orthopedics and oncology groups are established across the area, and the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston is two hours south for anything that needs an academic center. Retirees who choose a neighborhood by hospital are not being overcautious. Grande Dunes and the Myrtle Beach 55+ communities are within fifteen minutes of Grand Strand Medical Center; Carolina Forest now has a hospital of its own; Murrells Inlet communities are closest to Tidelands Waccamaw; North Myrtle Beach and Barefoot Resort are closest to McLeod Seacoast.

Myrtle Beach Weather in Retirement

Myrtle Beach has four seasons, but none of them are severe. January highs average in the upper 50s, and the beach is walkable most winter days. July highs average in the upper 80s with ocean breezes, which is cooler than inland South Carolina and noticeably cooler than central Florida. The area gets more than 200 sunny days a year, and golf courses stay open year round.

Hurricane season runs June through November. The Grand Strand's coastline angles away from the usual storm track, and direct hits are rare, but tropical storms bring rain and wind most years and the county has an evacuation plan by zone. Two practical consequences: homeowners insurance here includes wind coverage and is priced for it, and newer construction is built to wind codes that older homes were not. Both are worth asking about before you buy, and both are covered above under what a month costs.

Getting Around and Getting Visitors

Myrtle Beach International Airport has nonstop service from more than 50 U.S. cities on ten airlines, including American, Delta, United and Southwest, with the heaviest schedules from the Northeast and Midwest. For most retirees moving from north of Washington, that means family can be here in two hours. By car, Myrtle Beach is about two hours from Charleston and Wilmington, four from Charlotte and Raleigh, and a long day from the Mid-Atlantic.

Day to day, the Grand Strand is a driving area. Highway 17 runs the length of the coast, and Highway 31 moves traffic inland between Carolina Forest and North Myrtle Beach without the beach-road congestion. Market Common is the one neighborhood built to be walked, with restaurants, a grocery store and a movie theater inside the community.

Where to Retire in Myrtle Beach

The first decision is not which community. It is whether you want to live only with people your age, or near the beach, or near the hospital, or on a golf course — because no neighborhood is all four.

The Grand Strand runs 60 miles, and the areas within it are different places to retire. This is how I sort them for buyers.

Age-Restricted 55+ Communities

If you want a clubhouse calendar, single-level homes and neighbors at the same stage of life, the answer is one of the 55+ communities. Del Webb Grande Dunes and Del Webb North Myrtle Beach are the largest and best known; Carillon at Tuscany in Carolina Forest and Seasons at Prince Creek in Murrells Inlet are gated sections inside larger neighborhoods; Myrtle Trace in Conway and Woodlake Village in Murrells Inlet are the established, lower-fee end of the market. The full list, grouped by area, is on my retirement communities page.

All-Ages Neighborhoods Retirees Choose

• Carolina Forest The value choice: the lowest property tax rate in the county, newer homes, its own hospital as of fall 2026 and fifteen minutes to the beach. Most of the area's new construction is here.
• Grande Dunes The top end: gated golf and waterway neighborhoods on both sides of Highway 17, a private beach club and the Members Club, closest to Grand Strand Medical Center.
• Market Common The walkable choice: an urban village on the former Air Force base with restaurants, shops and parks inside the neighborhood, a mile from the beach.
• North Myrtle Beach and Barefoot Resort Quieter beach town with its own municipal services, four golf courses at Barefoot, and the Shag clubs on Ocean Drive.
• Murrells Inlet The fishing village south of Myrtle Beach: the MarshWalk, Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park, with Tidelands Waccamaw hospital in the community.
• Conway The historic river town inland, twenty minutes from the beach, with the lowest home prices on the Grand Strand and its own hospital.

By Budget

In round numbers from recent sales, an established 55+ home in Conway or Murrells Inlet starts in the high $200,000s. The newer Del Webb and Carolina Forest communities run from the mid $300,000s into the $500,000s, and a lake or waterway lot in Del Webb Grande Dunes runs higher. Grande Dunes proper starts around $700,000 for a golf-course home and goes well past $1,000,000 on the waterway and the ocean. A condo near the beach for part-time use starts well under $300,000, but remember that a condo you do not live in full time is taxed at the 6% rate and carries a larger association fee.

Staying Active in Retirement

Golf is the reason many people first visited, and the Grand Strand has around 80 courses, from municipal rates to the Dunes Club and Caledonia. The fastest-growing sport among retirees here is pickleball, with seventeen places to play across Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach and courts inside most of the 55+ communities. Beyond that: fishing piers and charter boats, the Intracoastal Waterway for boating, Brookgreen Gardens, the casino boats out of Little River, the Carolina Opry and the theaters at Broadway at the Beach, and Coastal Carolina University's lifelong learning program in Conway.

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