What Nobody Tells You About Myrtle Beach, SC

The City Isn't Restricting Short-Term Rentals -- It's Banning Owners From Giving Them Up

On December 10, 2024, Myrtle Beach City Council gave second-reading approval to an ordinance creating a "short-term rental conversion overlay zone" covering essentially the entire primary tourism corridor -- everywhere east of Kings Highway, from 29th Avenue South to 82nd Avenue North. Inside that zone, owners are banned from converting a short-term rental unit into a long-term rental (a lease exceeding 89 days counts as long-term, and once a unit converts, it isn't permitted to convert back to short-term use). Assistant City Manager Brian Tucker explained the reasoning directly: "the planning commission recognizes...that everything east of Kings Highway is our main tourism component."

The ordinance followed an April 2024 moratorium during which the city commissioned an urban-planning impact study. That study found that converting just 1,000 rental rooms to long-term use would cause a $7.6 million total revenue loss across three levels of government -- $2.5 million to the city, $1.2 million to the county, and $3.9 million to the state -- through lost accommodations tax, prepared food-and-beverage tax, and business-license-fee revenue. Where Hilton Head, the Cape Cod towns, and Destin have all fought over homeowners wanting fewer short-term rentals nearby, Myrtle Beach's city government used its zoning power to lock the tourism economy in place and prevent owners from opting out of it. If you're buying oceanfront specifically to eventually convert to a personal residence or a traditional lease, confirm with the city's Planning Department whether your specific parcel sits inside that overlay zone before you assume you'll have that option later.

One thing this research could not find: a specific, named example of an individual oceanfront tower's own HOA rule requiring owners to rent only through the building's in-house program, or capping self-managed Airbnb/Vrbo listings -- a common feature in condo-hotel markets generally, but not independently confirmed for a named Myrtle Beach building this pass. Ask directly about any building's master deed and rental rules before assuming the city's overlay zone is the only restriction that applies.

The Metro Got Smaller On Paper in 2023 -- and Most Sources Still Don't Say So

Population figures for the Myrtle Beach metro area disagree with each other by nearly 100,000 people, and there's a real, dated, non-obvious reason: on July 21, 2023, the federal Office of Management and Budget redrew Metropolitan Statistical Area boundaries nationwide, and one of the changes moved Brunswick County, NC back into the Wilmington, NC metro area -- out of what had previously been the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC metro. The practical effect: under the current federal definition, the Myrtle Beach metro is now a single county, Horry County, SC, alone. Several still-circulating sources appear to use the older, larger, multi-county definition without saying so, which plausibly explains why current metro population figures found this pass range so widely: citypopulation.de states 413,391 as of July 2024; DataUSA states a lower 383,016; Wikipedia's own Myrtle Beach page states a notably higher 479,426; and USAFacts separately estimates Horry County alone at roughly 427,600 in 2025 -- itself higher than citypopulation's MSA figure. This page won't pick one as correct; the underlying cause is real and dated, but this research could not fully reconcile all four numbers to one.

The year-round city population is a smaller-scale version of the same problem. Wikipedia cites the 2020 Census at 35,682; worldpopulationreview.com's 2026 estimate is 42,816; southcarolina-demographics.com's 2024 ACS-based estimate is 38,371 with a separate 2026 projection of 41,033; and USAFacts describes roughly 40,500 residents as of 2024. Treat the honest range as roughly 35,700 at the 2020 Census up to the low 40,000s by 2026, depending on source and methodology, rather than a single confident figure -- and note that whichever number you use, the city's roughly 18-20 million annual visitors (Post and Courier: more than 18 million in 2024; Wikipedia: over 20 million) outnumber it by several hundred to one.

Growth rankings for the metro are real but methodologically inconsistent, not one clean claim. The U.S. Census Bureau's own April 2025 report put the metro's 3.8% growth (July 2023-July 2024) as the nation's second-fastest, behind only Ocala, FL. South Carolina's own Department of Employment and Workforce described that same 3.8% figure as ranking third nationally. Separately, U.S. News & World Report -- using a different five-year net-migration methodology -- has named Myrtle Beach the #1 fastest-growing place in America for three consecutive years as of 2025. None of the three is wrong; they're measuring different things, and no single one should be quoted as if it settled the question.

Oceanfront Condo Insurance and HOA Fees Are Spiking, and South Carolina Doesn't Even Call It a Condo

South Carolina law calls this ownership structure a Horizontal Property Regime, or HPR -- a term dating to the state's 1960s-era Horizontal Property Act. An HPR is defined by its ownership structure (a master deed, bylaws, and rules and regulations), not its architecture, so everything from a 20-story oceanfront tower to a detached cottage can legally be an HPR. It's worth knowing the term, because most of what you'll read calls these buildings "condos" without mentioning that South Carolina's legal and insurance mechanics run through this specific structure.

A 2026-dated investment report (abesafa.com, analyzing more than 30 major oceanfront buildings including Kingston Plantation, North Beach Plantation, and Sea Watch) put oceanfront condos at roughly $340 per square foot as of July 2026, but the more consequential number is the cost side: HOA/regime fees have risen 15-30% over the past 24 months, with monthly fees now ranging from under $400 to more than $1,200 depending on building size and amenities. Insurance specifically has "skyrocketed": wind/hail premiums are up 40-80%, building master insurance policies that cost $300,000-$400,000 a few years ago now run $600,000-$700,000 or more annually, and individual unit-owner policies cost 30-50% more than three years ago. The same report describes the buyer pool shifting away from cash-flow-driven short-term-rental investors -- squeezed by both higher rates and tightening building STR policies -- toward owner-occupants, retirees, and longer-hold investors.

That insurance pressure sits inside a broader, well-documented state trend: South Carolina ranks as the nation's second-most-extreme state for projected insurance-rate hikes, with Horry County homeowners potentially facing premium increases of up to 90% (an average of roughly $2,400) over the next decade. There's a specific, distinctive flood-coverage gap layered on top: nearly 27,000 Horry County properties carry "major, severe, or extreme" flood risk by one risk-modeling estimate, but only about 19,250 properties sit inside FEMA-mapped zones that actually require flood insurance -- leaving several thousand at-risk properties with no mandate to carry coverage at all. Compounding that, Horry County lost nearly 1,300 National Flood Insurance Program policies between 2024 and 2025, meaning people are actively dropping flood coverage even as modeled risk rises. This page can't tell you which FEMA zone a specific address sits in -- a neighborhood-level flood-zone breakdown wasn't obtainable this pass -- so get that confirmed directly through FEMA or Horry County GIS, and get an actual quote from a South Carolina-licensed agent before assuming any of these percentages apply evenly to a specific building.

Tourism Is Genuinely Softening Right Now -- Which Cuts Against the "Boom Town" Story This Market Usually Tells

Most of what circulates about Myrtle Beach describes a market in permanent, uninterrupted upswing. The most current reporting found this pass says otherwise. Per Post and Courier coverage of a February 2026 tourism conference, summer 2025 hotel occupancy fell roughly 3% year-over-year, with another 3% worst-case decline forecast for 2026. City council workshops in October 2025 and February 2026 reported accommodations-tax revenue down 10.8% in Q3 2025 -- from $5.6 million in 2024 to $4.99 million in 2025. Visit Myrtle Beach President Stuart Butler attributed the softness to "four consecutive years of increased [summer] precipitation," reduced Canadian visitation amid trade tensions, and broader economic uncertainty. Notably, this is happening even as South Carolina overall posted a record tourism year in 2025, led by the less coastal-dependent Upstate/Greenville region -- a real, current counter-narrative worth knowing if you're underwriting a purchase on assumed rental-income growth.

New construction tells a similar, quieter story. Horry County issued 17,552 building permits in fiscal year 2023-24, valued at $1.54 billion -- only a 1% increase in permit count year-over-year, the lowest growth rate since 2019-20, and a 6% decline in total construction value from 2022-23's $1.63 billion. Local builders quoted in that reporting describe conditions as "stable but unspectacular," with some projects "canceled or delayed due to interest rates."

Home prices are also inconsistent across sources, not simply rising. Zillow's typical-home-value figure was $323,460 as of the most recent monthly read, down 0.5% year-over-year, with a separate median sale price of $274,357 and median list price of $267,633 (June 2026), 55 median days to pending, and 3,026 active listings. housingdata.report puts the median home price lower, at $315,047 as of February 2026, down 2.9% year-over-year and describing prices as having "dropped for the 11th straight month," though the decline had flattened by early 2026. These sources disagree by $50,000-$60,000 depending on exactly which metric you're reading, and none of them describes a hot seller's market right now. At the ZIP level, the newer inland Carolina Forest ZIP (29579) actually commands the highest median of the four checked, $353,726, ahead of downtown (29577, $275,146) and the oceanfront-adjacent Grande Dunes ZIP (29572, $312,710) -- a reminder that the priciest ZIP code here isn't the beachfront one.

South Carolina's 4%/6% Tax Split Matters More Here Than Almost Anywhere Else on This Site

South Carolina assesses owner-occupied legal residences at 4% of fair market value; every other class of property -- second homes, rental property, commercial property, vacant land -- is assessed at 6%. Tax owed is fair market value times the assessment ratio times the local millage, so a $300,000 non-owner-occupied property carries a 50% larger taxable base than an identical owner-occupied home before any millage rate is even applied. That mechanic matters more in Myrtle Beach than in most markets on this site, given how much of the housing stock is second-home or investment property in the oceanfront corridor.

The most current county-wide compilation found this pass (tax year 2023, via Ownwell) puts Horry County's unincorporated-area millage at 216.2 total mills: 56.2 county, 128.1 school, 23.2 fire, and 8.7 waste management. That figure almost certainly does not include the City of Myrtle Beach's own municipal operating millage layered on top for properties inside city limits -- this research could not independently confirm the current city-specific rate, so verify the actual combined millage for a specific address directly with the Horry County Auditor or City of Myrtle Beach Finance Department before relying on any blended percentage you see quoted elsewhere.

South Carolina also offers a $50,000 homestead exemption under SC Code Section 12-37-250 for qualifying owners (typically age 65-plus, totally and permanently disabled, or legally blind), on top of the 4% owner-occupied ratio -- though this research could not fetch Horry County's specific current filing deadline this pass, and this site's Hilton Head research separately found a January 15 filing-deadline trap for claiming the 4% rate itself in at least one SC county, a trap worth asking about directly rather than assuming the lower rate applies automatically at closing.

On top of property tax, a room-night here carries a genuinely heavy, multi-layered accommodations tax stack: the state's 2% accommodations tax, up to 3% more in local-option accommodations tax, the city's own 0.5% Local Accommodations Tax and 1% City Hospitality Fee, and Horry County's 1.5% County Hospitality Fee -- on top of a 9% combined sales tax inside city limits (versus 8% county-wide, since both Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach add an extra 1% municipal levy). Adding those layers suggests a combined nominal rate somewhere around 15-17%, but that figure is this research's own arithmetic, not a single number published by any primary source found this pass -- confirm the true all-in rate with the SC Department of Revenue or Horry County Treasurer before budgeting a rental proforma around it. None of this is tax advice; talk to a South Carolina-licensed tax professional about your specific situation.

The School District Is Losing Students Even As the County's Population Booms

The usual story about a fast-growing metro is that schools are overwhelmed by new enrollment. Horry County Schools' own numbers tell a more complicated story. Current district enrollment stands at 47,177 students as of a September 2025 report -- roughly 1,000 students short of the district's own projection of 48,291 for the 2025-26 school year, even as the county's overall population keeps climbing. A district survey of 298 families who withdrew students found 14% cited wanting "more options" than the district offers; among documented withdrawals, 1,725 students moved out of Horry County entirely, while 1,356 stayed local but shifted to charter, private, virtual, homeschool, or adult-education alternatives, with specific named draws including Discovery School (279 students), Atlantic Collegiate Academy (175), and Coastal Christian High School (97).

Set against that honest headwind, there's a real bright spot: per the district's own Fall 2025 State Report Card announcement, Horry County Schools recorded its highest graduation rate on record, with most schools rated excellent or good, including the #1-ranked school in the state -- almost certainly Scholars Academy, a Coastal Carolina University-campus program letting 9th-12th graders earn a diploma alongside AP and dual-enrollment college credit, which scored 99.34 out of 100 on its first-ever state report card for the 2023-24 cycle and was independently reported as SC's #1 high school as of October 2024. This research confirmed that 2023-24 ranking directly but could not independently confirm whether Scholars Academy repeated the #1 spot specifically in the newer Fall 2025 cycle -- worth reconfirming with the district before treating it as a current fact rather than a two-cycle-old one.

A November 2025 Mayoral Upset Fought Over Crime, Not the Tourism Brand

In November 2025, Mark Kruea -- the city's own former Public Information Officer for nearly 26 years, who had retired in 2024 -- won the mayor's office with 51% of the vote in a five-candidate field, defeating two-term incumbent Brenda Bethune, who took just 28%. Kruea campaigned explicitly against what he characterized as excessive downtown/"Arts and Innovation District" investment at the expense of neighborhoods, and made public safety central to his campaign, stating in an October 2025 debate that "Myrtle Beach's reputation is at stake because of the crime problems facing the city" (Post and Courier). He was sworn in for a four-year term beginning January 2026. This isn't the version of Myrtle Beach politics that shows up in tourism marketing, and it's worth knowing as a current, dated data point on how year-round residents are actually talking about livability here -- not just how visitors experience the boardwalk.

It also sits alongside a real income gap the tourism image doesn't advertise: southcarolina-demographics.com's 2024 estimate puts Myrtle Beach's median household income at $60,394 -- below both the South Carolina state median and the national median, consistent with a resident workforce concentrated in the lower-wage, seasonal tourism, hospitality, and retail sectors that also drive the area's visitor economy.

Storms, Renourishment, and the History That Built This Coastline

Hurricane Hazel (October 15, 1954) is the defining historic storm here: a Category 4 with winds exceeding 130 mph, one of only two Category 4 hurricanes to strike South Carolina since 1851, destroying more than 80% of oceanfront property along the Grand Strand from Pawleys Island to Little River. Photographer Jack Thompson, who witnessed the surge, described a wave that would "break over the top of the little bait and tackle shop and crush it like an egg shell" -- and is quoted concluding that "Hazel paved the way for the new, future Myrtle Beach": rather than retreat, the region rebuilt into the tourism economy it has today. More recently, Hurricane Ian (September 2022) hit North Myrtle Beach with at least $13 million in damage and 1,659 structures impacted, nearly half concentrated in the Cherry Grove neighborhood, with storm surge reaching up to 7 feet.

A $72 million beach renourishment project, 100% federally funded through emergency U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorization, has been actively placing roughly 2 million cubic yards of sand across 26 miles of beach spanning North Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach, and the Surfside Beach/Garden City area, in direct response to erosion from Hurricanes Debby and Ian. As of this research (June 2026 reporting), the Myrtle Beach segment was expected to wrap by early July 2026 and the Surfside/Garden City segment by the end of August 2026.

The region's history includes a segregation-era story that tourism marketing typically treats as a footnote, and shouldn't. Atlantic Beach -- known as "the Black Pearl" -- was founded in 1934 when entrepreneur George W. Tyson purchased 47 acres and encouraged other African-American buyers to purchase plots; it incorporated independently in 1966 and flourished during segregation as one of the only beach destinations on this coast open to Black visitors, hosting national R&B acts at the Black Hawk Night Club. It remains one of the few African-American-owned beach communities left in the United States, with an active community effort preserving Gullah-Geechee heritage. Immediately adjacent, North Myrtle Beach -- incorporated in 1968 through the consolidation of four beach communities (Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive Beach, Crescent Beach, and Windy Hill) -- carries its own documented history of Jim Crow-era deed restrictions barring Black ownership; Atlantic Beach declined to join that 1968 consolidation for exactly that reason. This is real, dated, named history sitting in the same few miles of coastline as the SkyWheel and Broadway at the Beach, and it deserves to be told plainly rather than smoothed into generic "beach heritage" copy.