Conway, South Carolina

Area Profile

27,263 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Conway, in Horry County.

59out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 44% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2487th of 3,904 published cities50
Schools1618th of 2,668 published cities43
GrowthTop 1% of 2,973 published cities87
Housing affordabilityTop 49% of 4,223 published cities81
ClimateTop 9% of 4,223 published cities85
Physical resilience3532nd of 4,182 published cities21
AccessTop 47% of 4,226 published cities93
Economic stability3890th of 4,226 published cities31
The quick read

Unemployment is 7.1% and median household income $56,650, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, earthquake and coastal flooding.

A major airport is 13 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
27,263
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$56,650
Bottom 34% nationally
Density
986/sq mi
27.7 sq mi of land
Median age
32.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Horry County
South Carolina
Metro area
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC
Nearest major airport
MYR
13 mi · Myrtle Beach Intl
Median home value
$260,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 7.1% is lower than 3% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 4.8% over the past year, to 11,726 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,653$56,650Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,526$26,388Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate21.0%Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.2 minBottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher19.6%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment11,726Bottom 6%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)9.7%Top 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)4.8%Top 1%June 2026
Labor force12,627Bottom 7%June 2026
Labor force participation51.3%Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$49,710Bottom 1%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$37,930Bottom 1%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.7%Bottom 11%June 2026
Unemployment rate7.1%Top 3%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/068.53.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 7.1% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202457k45k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $56,650 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons7,780$29,320
Waiters and Waitresses6,390$17,350
Fast Food and Counter Workers5,200$27,600
Cashiers4,710$27,850
Cooks, Restaurant3,420$35,190
Registered Nurses3,150$80,640

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

37% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 41% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.1 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
15
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
36.8%
Bottom 44% in South Carolina
Reading proficiency
40.9%
Bottom 35% in South Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Conway HighHorry 011,72417.8
Waccamaw ElementaryHorry 011,04715.240%45%
Whittemore Park MiddleHorry 011,01314.512%27%
Pee Dee ElementaryHorry 0192713.840%44%
Black Water MiddleHorry 0178915.532%37%
Homewood ElementaryHorry 0167113.435%37%
South Conway ElementaryHorry 0164213.147%44%
Conway ElementaryHorry 0158313.954%53%
Conway MiddleHorry 0157814.137%42%
Kingston ElementaryHorry 0151712.950%47%
Atlantic Collegiate Academy · charterLimestone Charters Association50231.4
HCS Scholars Academy HighHorry 0120917.4

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against South Carolina’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $866 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$866
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$260,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.61Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate65.4%Bottom 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4809,573Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$158$866Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,203$260,900Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.3%Bottom 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.5%Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
87/ 100
Top 1% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 4 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 18% since 2020, reaching 29,656 in 2024.

Permit activity has risen for 4 consecutive years.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 20.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
551
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
20.2
Top 3% nationally
Year over year
+14%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202430k25k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20202022202320242025560205
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+173%).

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 37°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 48.5 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 40, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station N MYRTLE BCH AP, 18.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND6.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index55.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation48.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low37°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index40.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing34°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
40
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
55
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

21 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and coastal flooding.

HurricaneHigh
EarthquakeElevated
LightningModerate
Coastal floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: tornado, winter weather, heat wave, ice storm, inland flooding, wildfire, cold wave, strong wind, drought, hail, landslide.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Horry County records 5.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 19.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 28.2 per 100,000 residents in Horry County.

Homicide
5.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
19.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
28.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
17.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Horry County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Conway rather than Conway itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 13 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR13 mi9,503 ft
Wilmington IntlILM72 mi8,016 ft
Columbia MetroCAE119 mi8,601 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
59
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Other cities in Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Myrtle BeachHorry County38,37157vs Conway
Carolina ForestHorry County26,263vs Conway
SocasteeHorry County23,796vs Conway
North Myrtle BeachHorry County19,85564vs Conway
Red HillHorry County15,920vs Conway
Little RiverHorry County11,771vs Conway
Garden CityHorry County11,591vs Conway
Murrells InletHorry County10,044vs Conway

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Conway

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2952654,130$68,82562
2952728,451$52,06956