What Locals Actually Think About Living in Myrtle Beach SC

We Asked Locals What They Really Think — Here Is What They Said

Before anyone makes the move to the Grand Strand, they do the same search. "Pros and cons of living in Myrtle Beach." The results come back the same every time: low property taxes, warm weather, beach access, summer traffic. It is a curated list that has been recycled so many times it barely registers anymore.

What is harder to find is what people who have actually lived here for five or ten years think about the decision they made. The real texture of daily life — the things that surprised them, the things they still complain about in October, and the things they would not give up for anything. That is what this post is.

We pulled together perspectives from long-term Grand Strand residents across Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Conway, Surfside Beach, and North Myrtle Beach. What follows is not a sales pitch. It is what they actually said.

What Locals Love — Without Being Asked Twice

The Off-Season

Without exception, every long-term Grand Strand resident mentions the off-season first when asked what they love most. October through April — when the tourists have gone and the Grand Strand returns to its residents — is described with something close to reverence.

Empty beaches. Short restaurant waits. Easy parking. The community breathing room that summer visitors never see. The boardwalk on a Tuesday in November when there are more pelicans than people. The same restaurant you waited 45 minutes for in July that seats you in five minutes on a Wednesday in September.

The consistent sentiment is some version of this: "People think we live at the beach. We live next to where tourists go to the beach — and most of the year it is actually great."

For residents who relocated from high-cost urban markets and spent their entire lives fighting for leisure time, the off-season is less a season than a reward. It is the whole point.

The Financial Reality

The combination of low property taxes, no state tax on Social Security income, and home prices well below comparable coastal markets lands differently in practice than it sounds in theory. Residents who relocated from New Jersey, New York, or Connecticut describe the first property tax bill as a genuine shock — in the best possible sense.

"My taxes went from $11,000 a year to $1,100. I still check the bill every year to make sure it is real." This is not an outlier experience. Horry County property tax rates are among the lowest in the Southeast, and the savings compound meaningfully over time. See the full cost-of-living breakdown for the specific numbers.

For retirees especially, the financial case is not abstract. It is the ability to stay retired without burning through savings, to maintain a lifestyle that would be unsustainable elsewhere, and to have something left to leave behind.

The Golf

This one gets mentioned with almost religious conviction among a certain segment of the local population. Over 80 courses within easy driving distance. Tee times available year-round. Rates that are affordable for daily play — especially in the off-season, when greens fees drop and the courses empty out.

For buyers who golf, the Grand Strand delivers something that does not exist at this price point anywhere else on the East Coast. It is not just a perk. For many residents, it is a primary motivation for the move and a central feature of daily life here.

The People

The transplant community creates an unusually welcoming social environment. Because most people moved here from somewhere else — and made the same deliberate choice to leave a higher-cost, higher-stress environment — there is a strong shared experience that creates quick connection.

"I met more people in my first six months here than I had in ten years in my neighborhood up north." This is a consistent theme across demographics: retirees, remote workers, and families all describe social integration as faster and warmer than they expected.

Access to Nature That Actually Gets Used

Residents who moved here expecting only beach access describe a genuine bonus: the depth of the natural environment surrounding the Grand Strand. Brookgreen Gardens. Huntington Beach State Park. The Intracoastal Waterway. The Waccamaw River. The marsh trails and wildlife refuges throughout Georgetown and Horry Counties.

Birding, kayaking, fishing, hiking, paddleboarding — the outdoor lifestyle extends well beyond the ocean, and the year-round climate means it actually gets used. Long-term residents describe Brookgreen Gardens on a weekday morning in April the same way they describe the beach in October: "This is why I moved here."

What Locals Tolerate — Honestly

Summer

The honest local consensus on summer is nuanced. Almost no one says they hate it. Almost no one pretends it is their favorite time of year. The typical resident relationship with summer is one of managed coexistence — avoiding peak traffic windows, front-loading errands to early morning, staying out of the tourist corridor on summer weekends, and reminding themselves in late August that October is coming.

"You learn to work around it. The first summer is the hardest. By the third summer you barely notice." This is the most common formulation. Summer is not the reason most people stay, but it is rarely the reason anyone leaves either.

Residents in Murrells Inlet, Surfside Beach, and Conway consistently report a more manageable summer experience than residents in the main Myrtle Beach corridor — less tourist traffic, more neighborhood feel year-round.

The Car Dependency

The Grand Strand is built around the car. There is no meaningful public transit. Everything requires driving — grocery store, doctor, restaurant, beach, everything. For people who relocated from walkable cities this takes genuine adjustment.

Market Common in Myrtle Beach offers a pocket of walkability that is genuinely useful, but it is the exception. Most residents adapt quickly, but it is a real feature of life here worth naming honestly.

Healthcare Access

Grand Strand Medical Center, Conway Medical Center, and Tidelands Health have all grown significantly and cover most routine and urgent needs well. Where the Grand Strand still lags is in certain specialist categories — for complex procedures or rare specializations, residents may need to travel to Charleston or Columbia. This is improving meaningfully as the region grows.

The Hurricane Conversation

Every Grand Strand resident knows hurricane season runs June through November. Direct hits are historically less frequent here than in South Florida, but the risk is real. Locals develop their own relationship with storm preparedness that falls somewhere between "I have a go-bag and a plan" and "I will see how it develops."

The anxiety new residents feel before their first hurricane season is almost universally described as greater than the reality of living through it. Flood zone research before purchase is the piece of advice locals give most consistently to buyers. Visit floodsmart.gov to understand flood zone designations before due diligence ends.

What Locals Would Never Trade Away

This is the emotional core of what long-term residents say when you ask whether they made the right decision. Not the logic of it — the feeling of it. The things that, five or ten years in, make them certain the move was right.

The ability to be at the beach on a Tuesday afternoon in October when it is 74 degrees and completely empty. The knowledge that their property tax bill is $1,100 instead of $9,000. The drive home at sunset over the Intracoastal Waterway. The fact that their retirement income is treated differently here — see the full guide to retiring to Myrtle Beach for the details on Social Security and pension income treatment in South Carolina.

Brookgreen Gardens on a weekday morning in April. The MarshWalk in Murrells Inlet on a Wednesday night in September. Golf on a course that would cost three times as much in the Northeast. The neighbors who also left somewhere harder to get here and are genuinely glad they did.

The consistent theme across every long-term resident is some version of this: "I thought I was moving to a beach town. I did not realize I was moving to a life I actually had time for."

What Locals Tell People Who Are Thinking About Moving Here

Visit in October or November before you decide — not in July. If you visit in summer and love it, you will be fine. If you visit in October and fall in love with it, you have found your place.

Give yourself one full year before you decide if it worked. The first summer will test you. The first fall will make you a convert. Long-term residents almost universally describe the first full year as the real orientation.

Do not buy the first place you see. The Grand Strand is 60 miles of very different communities. Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Surfside Beach, Pawleys Island, Conway — each one has a completely different character, pace, and community feel. See the guide to the best suburbs for a comparison of each community.

Understand the flood zone of any property before you buy — not after. Get a flood insurance quote before due diligence ends. Visit our 2026 buyer guidance for more on what to evaluate.

Connect with people who already live here. The best intelligence comes from people who already live there — not from curated lists. Also visit living-inmyrtlebeach.com and visithorrycounty.com for additional local resources.

Also review our honest pros and cons guide and the complete moving to Myrtle Beach guide before you visit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do locals actually like living in Myrtle Beach?

The overwhelming consensus among long-term residents — people who have been here five or more years — is yes. Satisfaction rates are high, the most common regret is not moving sooner, and the decision to relocate is described with genuine warmth rather than resigned acceptance. The honest caveats are real: summer requires adjustment, certain infrastructure gaps exist, and car dependency is real. But the consistent finding is that people who made the move are glad they did.

What is the biggest complaint from Myrtle Beach locals?

Summer traffic and tourist crowding is the most consistently cited frustration. Car dependency comes second. Neither is described as a dealbreaker by long-term residents — both are described as manageable realities that improve with local knowledge, neighborhood selection, and time. Residents who chose communities slightly off the main tourist corridor report both as less significant.

Is Myrtle Beach friendly to newcomers?

Consistently described as yes — because most of the community is itself made up of newcomers. The transplant experience creates a shared bond that makes social integration significantly faster than in many other relocation destinations. People who moved here from somewhere else understand the experience of being new, and most are genuinely open to connection.

What do people miss most after moving to Myrtle Beach?

Specific restaurants or food scenes from home cities are the most common answer. Family proximity for people who left large extended family networks is second. Walkability for people who came from pedestrian-friendly urban environments comes up regularly. Almost no one says they miss the taxes, the winters, or the cost of living.

How is the quality of life in Myrtle Beach compared to other coastal areas?

Long-term residents who relocated from other coastal markets consistently describe Myrtle Beach as offering a comparable or superior quality of life at a significantly lower cost. The combination of beach access, outdoor lifestyle, tax environment, and community character at Grand Strand price points is described as a value that does not exist elsewhere on the East Coast.

Is Myrtle Beach a good place to retire?

For many retirees, yes — particularly for those prioritizing financial sustainability, outdoor lifestyle, warm climate, and a welcoming transplant community. South Carolina's treatment of Social Security and pension income, combined with Horry County's property tax rates, creates a retirement cost structure that is meaningfully different from most Northern markets. The full picture is detailed in our guide to retiring to Myrtle Beach.