North Myrtle Beach Property Tax: What Is and Isn't Confirmed

The County Millage Rollback: A Real, Recent Number

Horry County's own reporting, covered by MyHorryNews, confirms the county rolled its overall millage rate back from 56.2 mils to 52.1 mils for fiscal year 2025. That rollback was not a discretionary rate cut -- South Carolina law requires counties to roll back millage when reassessment shows substantial value growth, and Horry County's reassessment showed real property value growth of more than 11% and overall growth of roughly 7.8%, triggering the mandated reduction. A mil, for reference, equals one-tenth of one cent of tax per dollar of assessed (not market) value, so the millage rate is only meaningful once it is applied to a property's assessed value, not its market price.

That 52.1-mil figure is the countywide rate. It does not, by itself, tell a North Myrtle Beach property owner their actual bill, because the millage rate that applies to any specific parcel is the sum of overlapping taxing districts -- county government, school district, and, for property inside city limits, the City of North Myrtle Beach's own separate municipal millage. That city rate is itself public record: per the city's own adopted budgets and reporting from MyHorryNews and WPDE, North Myrtle Beach held its municipal millage at 45 mils for several years, raised it to 48 mils for FY2025 to fund public safety, rolled it back to 45 mils for FY2026 under the same reassessment-driven state rule that produced the county's rollback, and then raised it again -- a five-mil increase to 50 mils -- for FY2027, as part of the city's $190.2 million FY2027 budget, described by city officials as only the second municipal millage increase in nine years. This page still does not add the county, city, and school-district millage together into one confirmed combined figure for a specific North Myrtle Beach parcel, since the school-district portion was not independently confirmed for this build, and the correct assessment ratio (4% owner-occupied vs. 6% non-owner) still has to be applied before any of these millage figures translate into an actual bill. The Horry County Assessor's office and the county's own property tax estimator tool remain the correct source for a parcel-specific total.

The 4% vs. 6% Assessment Ratio: The Number That Moves the Needle Most

South Carolina taxes real property on assessed value, not market value, and assessed value is calculated by applying an assessment ratio to the property's appraised fair market value. Owner-occupied legal residences -- primary homes where the owner actually lives -- are assessed at 4% of value. Second homes, vacation homes, and rental or investment property are assessed at 6% of value. Because that 6% figure is 50% higher than 4%, two otherwise-identical houses on the same street, taxed at the exact same millage rate, can carry meaningfully different tax bills purely based on how the property is classified -- and a large share of North Myrtle Beach's oceanfront and near-oceanfront housing stock is second-home or rental property, not primary residences.

The 4% owner-occupied rate is not automatic. A property owner must apply for it with the Horry County Assessor's office and provide documentation establishing the property as their legal primary residence -- generally a South Carolina driver's license, voter registration, and other residency proof tied to that address. Primary residences that qualify also receive an exemption from school operating-fund millage, a separate benefit layered on top of the lower assessment ratio itself, under a state-level property tax structure widely referred to as Act 388. This page has not independently re-verified every mechanical detail of Act 388's school-tax exemption for this build beyond what is broadly and consistently documented by South Carolina county assessor offices and real estate counsel -- confirm current eligibility rules and paperwork directly with the Horry County Assessor.

Reassessment and Value Growth Caps

Horry County, like all South Carolina counties, periodically reassesses property values -- the reassessment cycle that produced the double-digit real-property growth behind the FY2025 millage rollback is itself part of a statewide five-year reassessment schedule. South Carolina law is widely documented as capping how much a property's assessed value can increase due to periodic reassessment for an existing owner between reassessment cycles, intended to blunt sudden tax-bill spikes in fast-appreciating coastal markets like this one. That cap does not apply the same way when a property changes ownership -- a sale generally resets the property to its new purchase-price-based market value for tax purposes going forward (an assessable transfer of interest), which is a real and important detail for any buyer estimating a first-year tax bill from the seller's current bill rather than from the post-sale reassessed value.

This page states that reassessment-cap and transfer-of-interest structure at the general, well-documented level and does not cite an exact statutory cap percentage or reassessment-cycle year for Horry County specifically, since those specifics were not independently re-confirmed via a fresh source check for this build. Any buyer should ask the closing attorney or the Assessor's office directly what the property's tax bill is likely to look like in the first full year after purchase -- it is very often higher than the number shown on the seller's most recent tax bill.

What a North Myrtle Beach Tax Bill Actually Funds

Property tax revenue in Horry County funds county government operations, the Horry County School District, and, for property inside North Myrtle Beach city limits, city services -- police, fire, parks, and the municipal infrastructure that supports both year-round residents and the tourism economy the city itself depends on. Coastal municipalities like North Myrtle Beach also carry real, storm-related costs baked into their budgets over time -- Hurricane Ian alone produced $13.1 million in confirmed 2022 property damage across 1,659 city properties, and the city waived building permit fees for storm-related repairs afterward, both real costs and real relief measures documented by the city and regional news coverage.

None of that translates into a specific millage line item this page can point to with confidence, and no attempt is made here to allocate the current rate across departments, since that level of budget detail was not part of this research pass. A property owner who wants that level of detail should consult the city's and county's own published annual budgets, both of which are public documents.

Where to Get a Real Number for a Specific Property

The Horry County Assessor's office maintains parcel-specific records and, per the county's own site, offers a property tax estimator tool intended to give a more precise figure than a generic countywide millage rate can provide. That tool, along with the Assessor's office directly, is the correct source for an actual current-year tax estimate on any specific North Myrtle Beach address -- factoring in the correct taxing district, the correct assessment ratio based on owner-occupancy status, and any applicable exemptions.

A South Carolina real estate closing attorney (required by state law to supervise every residential closing in South Carolina, whether financed or paid in cash) will also typically address the property's tax classification and any proration of the current year's taxes at closing. Use both resources rather than relying on any single online estimate, including the figures summarized on this page, when budgeting an actual purchase.

What This Page Does Not Claim

This page states, with sourcing, the real FY2025 Horry County millage rollback (56.2 to 52.1 mils), the real City of North Myrtle Beach municipal millage history (45 mils, up to 48 for FY2025, back to 45 for FY2026, up to 50 for FY2027), the real 4%-vs-6% state assessment ratio structure, and the general, widely documented existence of a reassessment growth cap and an assessable-transfer-of-interest rule. It does not state a single confirmed combined county-plus-city-plus-school-district mill rate for a specific North Myrtle Beach parcel, an exact reassessment cap percentage or cycle date, or a dollar-figure estimate for what a specific property's annual tax bill will be, because none of those more granular figures was independently confirmed to the standard this page holds itself to. Treat every dollar figure connected to your own potential purchase as something to get directly from the Horry County Assessor's office and a South Carolina real estate attorney, not from a general research page. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, or financial advice.