Retiring in Myrtle Beach: Taxes, Golf, Healthcare, and the Honest Picture

South Carolina's 4%/6% Property Tax Ratio: A Real Advantage for an Owner-Occupied Home

South Carolina taxes a home differently depending on how it's used, and the difference is large. A property's fair market value is first multiplied by an assessment ratio, and only that smaller assessed value is then multiplied by the local millage rate: Tax = Fair Market Value x Assessment Ratio x Millage. An owner-occupied legal residence - the home someone actually lives in full time - is assessed at 4% of fair market value. Every other class of property, including second homes, rental property, and vacant land, defaults to 6%, per Horry County's own published tax FAQ. On an identical $300,000 property, that's a taxable base of $12,000 at the 4% rate versus $18,000 at the 6% rate - fifty percent larger before any millage is even applied. For a retiree converting a Myrtle Beach property into an actual primary residence rather than a second home, this is the single biggest lever on the eventual tax bill, and it does not apply automatically - it requires filing for the owner-occupied classification with the Horry County Assessor, not something that happens by default at closing.

Layered on top of the 4% rate, South Carolina offers a $50,000 homestead exemption under SC Code § 12-37-250 for qualifying homeowners who are age 65 or older, totally and permanently disabled, or legally blind. This is a statewide benefit rather than something specific to Myrtle Beach, and it stacks with the 4% assessment ratio rather than replacing it - a real, meaningful reduction in the taxable base for an eligible retiree's primary home. This research could not independently confirm Horry County's specific filing deadline for either the homestead exemption or the underlying 4% owner-occupied classification, nor the City of Myrtle Beach's own municipal millage rate layered on top of Horry County's unincorporated-area baseline of 216.2 mills (a tax-year-2023 figure) - confirm both directly with the Horry County Assessor and Auditor before budgeting around either.

South Carolina Generally Doesn't Tax Social Security, and Offers Other Retirement-Income Breaks

This is general South Carolina state context rather than anything specific to Myrtle Beach, but it's worth stating because it applies to any retiree settling anywhere in the state: South Carolina generally does not tax Social Security benefits, and the state offers additional deductions on other forms of retirement income such as pension and retirement-account distributions. The exact deduction amounts, age thresholds, and phase-in rules change from year to year and depend on a household's specific income mix, so confirm current figures directly with a CPA or the South Carolina Department of Revenue rather than assuming a specific dollar figure applies to any given retirement income.

The Golf Lifestyle: A Genuine Draw, and the Communities Built Around It

Myrtle Beach is branded the "Golf Capital of the World," with roughly 100 courses in the immediate area per the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce - a genuinely singular concentration of golf that few other U.S. retirement markets can match, and a real, non-manufactured draw for a golf-oriented retirement lifestyle rather than generic marketing language.

Two communities specifically build on that draw for a retiree audience. Barefoot Resort, in North Myrtle Beach, is a 2,300-acre community built around four golf courses with Intracoastal waterfront, and is described in local sources as popular with retirees specifically. Grande Dunes is an upscale, Charleston-style community spanning both sides of the Intracoastal Waterway, organized into Marina, Golf, and Ocean "villages" with multiple golf courses, tennis, and a YMCA, and marketed toward a similar demographic. Neither community's own marketing language substitutes for walking the neighborhood and talking to current owners about year-round life there, but both are genuine, sourced examples of Myrtle Beach-area real estate built with retirees specifically in mind - a different proposition from the oceanfront condo-hotel towers that otherwise dominate this market's skyline and buyer pool.

Healthcare: One Major Regional Hospital

Grand Strand Medical Center, owned and operated by HCA Healthcare, is the area's major hospital: 403 beds, established in 1978, holding Level I Adult Trauma Center and Level II Pediatric Trauma Center designations along with DNV-GL Comprehensive Stroke Center certification - meaningful credentials for an older population where stroke and trauma response time matter. The hospital has expanded twice in recent years: a $15 million addition in 2014 (pediatrics, surgery, ICU) and a $14.5 million expansion in 2021 adding 32 patient beds. This research did not independently confirm the role or facility detail of Tidelands Health, a second system referenced in passing as potentially serving parts of the broader area, nor gather detail on senior-specific services or age-restricted community options - confirm both directly with a local healthcare provider or relocation specialist if either is a deciding factor.

Honest Livability: A Service-Economy Wage Base and a Crime-Focused Election

Myrtle Beach's median household income is $60,394 per a 2024 estimate - below both the South Carolina and national medians, consistent with a resident workforce heavily employed in the lower-wage, seasonal tourism, hospitality, and retail sector that also drives the area's massive visitor economy. That's general economic context for the year-round city rather than a retiree-specific figure, but it's relevant to anyone assessing the depth and cost of local services a retiree would rely on day to day.

The tourism economy itself has also shown real, current softening: summer 2025 hotel occupancy fell roughly 3% year over year, with local officials citing several consecutive years of increased summer rainfall, reduced Canadian visitation, and broader economic uncertainty, and city accommodations-tax revenue was down 10.8% in the third quarter of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024. And in the November 2025 municipal election, challenger Mark Kruea won the mayor's office with 51% of the vote in a five-candidate field, defeating two-term incumbent Brenda Bethune, after campaigning heavily on public safety - stating in an October 2025 debate that "Myrtle Beach's reputation is at stake because of the crime problems facing the city," per Post and Courier reporting. That's a real, current, named data point on how year-round residents are talking about livability here, worth weighing directly rather than defaulting to generic beach-town marketing language.

A Professional-Consult Disclaimer

Tax rates, exemption rules, filing deadlines, hospital affiliations, and election outcomes all change, and this page has been direct about which figures are confirmed versus which remain open gaps. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, financial, or medical advice. Before making a retirement relocation decision, confirm current property-tax figures, the homestead exemption's filing deadline, and Social Security/retirement-income tax treatment with the Horry County Assessor, the Horry County Auditor, the South Carolina Department of Revenue, and a qualified CPA or financial advisor, and confirm healthcare access directly with Grand Strand Medical Center or another local provider and your own physician.