Myrtle Beach vs Roanoke
Metro-area medians — Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Area vs Roanoke, VA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Roanoke comes out ahead, winning 8 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Myrtle Beach and Roanoke cost about the same to live in, but Roanoke households earn about 6% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Roanoke.
Their widest everyday difference: Roanoke has the tighter job market — 2.6% unemployment versus 5.2%.
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, Myrtle Beach leaves you about $681/yr better off after tax and local prices.
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.
Choose Roanoke for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Average commute
More comparisons
Metros closest to Myrtle Beach and Roanoke on cost, income, size, and education.
Myrtle Beach vs Roanoke — frequently asked
- Is Myrtle Beach cheaper than Roanoke?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Myrtle Beach and Roanoke metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Myrtle Beach or Roanoke?
- Roanoke has the higher median household income — $72,557 versus $68,534 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 6% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Myrtle Beach or Roanoke?
- A paycheck stretches further in Roanoke. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $77,503 there versus $73,187 in Myrtle Beach.
- Which has cheaper rent, Myrtle Beach or Roanoke?
- Roanoke has cheaper rent — a median of $1,188/mo versus $1,433/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).