Property Taxes in Murrells Inlet: What Actually Applies

The County Line Is Not a Formality Here

Murrells Inlet is not cleanly inside one county. Current sources genuinely disagree on the community's primary county assignment -- some describe the census-designated place as centered in Georgetown County with its northern edge following the Horry County line; a separate demographic-modeling source places the Murrells Inlet CDP in Horry County outright. This isn't just an academic disagreement between websites: South Carolina's own Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office found, in a 2018 review, that roughly 200 parcels in the area had been assigned to the wrong county for tax and administrative purposes, an error significant enough to trigger news coverage and a subsequent Georgetown County council review of local redistricting. For a buyer, the practical implication is direct: don't assume Horry County or Georgetown County rules, rates, or offices apply to a Murrells Inlet property without confirming the parcel's actual county assignment first, ideally through the specific county's own GIS parcel lookup tool or assessor's office.

South Carolina's 4% vs. 6% Assessment Ratio: A Real, Statewide Rule

Regardless of which county a Murrells Inlet parcel falls in, South Carolina state law applies the same assessment-ratio framework everywhere: an owner-occupied primary residence is assessed at 4% of fair market value, while a second home, vacation home, investment property, or any other non-primary-residence property is assessed at 6% -- confirmed via the South Carolina Department of Revenue's individual property tax policy manual. That's a 50% increase in taxable value for an otherwise identical property purely because of occupancy classification. On a $450,000 home, that's the difference between an $18,000 assessed value (4%) and a $27,000 assessed value (6%) -- a gap that, multiplied against the applicable millage rate, adds up to real, recurring dollars every year.

To claim the 4% owner-occupied rate, an owner must formally apply with the relevant county assessor's office and provide documentation proving the property is their legal primary residence -- it is not automatic, and a buyer intending to make a Murrells Inlet property their primary residence should file that application promptly after closing rather than assuming the lower rate applies by default. A given owner can only claim the 4% rate on one property at a time, which matters for anyone who already owns a primary residence elsewhere and is buying a Murrells Inlet property as a second home or eventual retirement property -- that purchase will be billed at 6% until and unless it becomes the documented primary residence.

Horry County's Confirmed 2025 Rate

For the Horry County portion of Murrells Inlet, the county's 2025 operating millage was set at 52.1 mils, a reduction from 56.2 mils the year before, following a state-mandated reassessment rollback -- South Carolina law requires counties to reassess property values on a five-year cycle, and a rate rollback provision generally prevents a county from collecting a windfall in total revenue purely because reassessed values rose, absent a separate council vote to raise rates beyond the rollback. Horry County Schools' own millage was reported at 118.1 mils for the prior year with a full rollback approved for the 2025 tax bill -- but per Horry County's own guidance, that school-district millage applies only to commercial property and non-owner-occupied residential property, not to a documented primary residence, consistent with the state's broader policy of exempting owner-occupied homes from school operating millage.

Georgetown County: A Confirmed Cut, But Not a Confirmed Number

For the Georgetown County portion of Murrells Inlet, county council reportedly cut the 2025 operating property tax rate by 8.2% following the county's own reassessment cycle, per Coastal Observer's local reporting -- a real, confirmed directional fact. This research did not, however, independently confirm the exact resulting mill figure for Georgetown County's 2025 rate, unlike the specific 52.1-mil number confirmed for Horry County. A buyer evaluating a Georgetown County-side Murrells Inlet property should request the exact current millage rate, broken out by county operations, school operations and debt, and any special district, directly from the Georgetown County Assessor's Office or Auditor's Office rather than assuming a figure.

School District Millage Depends on the Same County Line

Because school district assignment in Murrells Inlet also depends on which side of the county line a specific address falls on, the applicable school millage line item differs correspondingly: the Horry County portion generally feeds Horry County Schools' St. James cluster, while the Georgetown County portion generally feeds the Georgetown County School District's Waccamaw cluster. This site's Neighborhoods Guide and Community & Lifestyle pages cover the specific schools each cluster includes in more depth. For a primary-residence owner taxed at the 4% rate, school operating millage generally doesn't apply directly to the tax bill in either district, per South Carolina's owner-occupied school-tax exemption -- but a second-home or rental owner taxed at 6% should expect the applicable school district's operating and debt-service millage to be part of the total bill.

Fire Districts and Other Special Levies

Beyond county and school millage, a specific Murrells Inlet parcel may also fall within a special fire district or other local special-purpose taxing district, each carrying its own additional millage layered onto the county and school rates -- a common structure across unincorporated South Carolina coastal communities that lack their own municipal government to consolidate services. This page did not independently confirm which specific fire or special districts apply to which parts of Murrells Inlet, or their current millage rates. Request an itemized current tax bill or estimate -- broken out by every applicable district, not just a single blended county rate -- directly from the relevant county assessor's office for any specific parcel under consideration.

What This Page Doesn't Cover

This page explains the real structural framework governing property tax in Murrells Inlet -- the county-line ambiguity, the statewide 4%/6% assessment-ratio rule, Horry County's confirmed 2025 rate, Georgetown County's confirmed rate cut without a confirmed resulting figure, and the school-district and fire-district layers that can add to either county's base rate. It does not state a specific current combined tax bill for any individual parcel, since that number depends on the exact address, its assessed value, and every applicable special district. Confirm the exact current combined rate and dollar estimate for a specific property directly with the Horry County or Georgetown County Assessor's Office -- whichever applies -- before making a purchase or budgeting decision. Nothing on this page is legal or tax advice.