Myrtle Beach, SC
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Myrtle Beach ranks 225th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 210th for income. A household earns $68,534 a year while median rent runs $1,433/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 6% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (68th of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (274th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 191st and home prices 167th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Myrtle Beach, your take-home is worth about $62,365 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 210th of 300↑20.3%$68,534
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 133rd of 30094 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $73,187
- Per-capita income
- $38,113
- Full-time pay
- $37,087
Housing
- Median rent
- 191st of 300↑41%$1,433/mo
- Home value
- 167th of 300↑53.4%$325,300
- Property tax
- $1,087/yr · 0.3%
- Sales tax
- 7.50%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 225th of 3005.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 225th of 30027.6%
- Avg commute
- 182nd of 30024.9 min
People
- Population
- 413,391
- Population change
- -16.8%
- Median age
- 49.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.2%
- Broadband
- 93.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 68th of 30040
- Natural-hazard loss
- 274th of 300$34/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 157th of 30018.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 13%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — n myrtle beach.
What jobs pay in Myrtle Beach
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $263,630
- IT managers
- $140,200
- Financial managers
- $137,450
- Pharmacists
- $135,410
- Lawyers
- $118,950
- Civil engineers
- $90,150
- General & operations managers
- $87,260
- Registered nurses
- $80,640
- Accountants & auditors
- $74,520
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,580
- Police officers
- $62,070
- Electricians
- $51,200
- Plumbers
- $48,340
- Carpenters
- $47,750
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $46,360
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $38,770
- Construction laborers
- $38,210
- Customer service reps
- $36,510
- Janitors
- $30,250
- Retail salespersons
- $29,320
- Cashiers
- $27,850
- Waiters & waitresses
- $17,350
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Myrtle Beach metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in South Carolina are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- North Carolina3,775
- New York1,963
- Pennsylvania1,854
- Florida1,117
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Myrtle Beach
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Myrtle Beach metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Myrtle Beach metro?
- Median gross rent across the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area is $1,433 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Myrtle Beach.
- What is the median household income in the Myrtle Beach metro?
- A typical household in the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area earns $68,534 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Myrtle Beach expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area runs about 6% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Myrtle Beach metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $73,187 (versus its face value of $68,534). CityLedger rates the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Myrtle Beach metro?
- The median home value across the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area is $325,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Myrtle Beach metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area is 5.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).