North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Area Profile

19,855 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for North Myrtle Beach, in Horry County.

64out of 100
Area Score
Top 37% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 24% of 3,904 cities measured69
GrowthTop 1% of 2,973 cities measured87
Housing affordability2992nd of 4,223 cities measured67
ClimateTop 9% of 4,223 cities measured85
Physical resilience3532nd of 4,182 cities measured21
Access2301st of 4,226 cities measured91
Economic stability3888th of 4,226 cities measured31
The quick read

North Myrtle Beach ranks in the top 24% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 4.7% and median household income of $72,722.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 1,008 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 21% on the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
19,855
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,722
Top 42% nationally
Density
885/sq mi
22.4 sq mi of land
Median age
61.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Horry County
South Carolina
Metro area
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC
Nearest major airport
MYR
16 mi · Myrtle Beach Intl
Median home value
$416,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 36% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 4.8% over the past year, to 181,029 employed residents.

40% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 81% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$3,862$72,722Top 42%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,955$51,483Top 16%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.4%Bottom 35%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.5 minBottom 28%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher39.9%Top 19%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment181,029Top 31%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)8.6%Top 1%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)4.8%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force189,916Top 31%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation42.8%Bottom 12%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$49,710Bottom 1%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$37,930Bottom 1%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 30%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 36%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202473k64k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,722 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Horry County, SC, which contains this city.

There are 15.8 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
1
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
2019-20 school year
Reading proficiency
2019-20 school year
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Ocean Drive ElementaryHorry 0185215.862%60%

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 $1,263 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.7 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
20.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,263
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$416,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income5.73Top 10%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate82.2%Top 37%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±75327,608Top 2%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$117$1,263Top 29%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$17,365$416,900Top 17%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.8%Top 36%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate63.9%Top 3%of 32,0012024 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 — 2 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 10% since 2020, reaching 20,798 in 2024.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

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

At 50.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
1,008
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
50.8
Top 1% nationally
Year over year
+21%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202421k19k
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
20202022202320242025967380
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+154%).

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, 1.4 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 North Myrtle Beach rather than North Myrtle Beach 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 16 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR16 mi9,503 ft
Wilmington IntlILM55 mi8,016 ft
Kinston Rgnl Jetport At Stallings FldISO121 mi11,498 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
64
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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 North Myrtle Beach
ConwayHorry County27,26359vs North Myrtle Beach
Carolina ForestHorry County26,263vs North Myrtle Beach
SocasteeHorry County23,796vs North Myrtle Beach
Red HillHorry County15,920vs North Myrtle Beach
Little RiverHorry County11,771vs North Myrtle Beach
Garden CityHorry County11,591vs North Myrtle Beach
Murrells InletHorry County10,044vs North Myrtle Beach

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
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 North Myrtle Beach

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2958220,158$71,72364
2956817,097$62,65359