Moving from Florida
to Myrtle Beach.

The short answer

What Florida movers gain here

A typical home here cost about $342,000 in July 2026. The Florida statewide typical was about $378,000, and the large coastal metros cost more: about $478,000 around Miami and Fort Lauderdale, about $554,000 around Naples. Day-to-day prices in the Myrtle Beach area are about nine index points below the Florida average. The airport has ten airlines and more than 50 nonstop routes. Six hospitals serve the area, including the adult Level I trauma center. The local count puts golf at around 80 courses.

The reasons Florida movers give are clear: the homeowners insurance renewal, a condo special assessment, prices that rose faster than pay, and overcrowding.

Insurance is lower here on average. For the same $300,000 of coverage, a Myrtle Beach policy averages about $4,500 a year against about $6,500 across Florida, and the gap is much wider if you are coming from South Florida or the Gulf coast. The insurance section has the figure for your metro.

Halfbacks

Halfway back: why Florida movers choose the Carolinas

A halfback is a person who moved from the Northeast or Midwest to Florida and later moved halfway back, to the Carolinas, Georgia or Tennessee. They want to keep a mild winter and the ocean, pay less to own a home, and live closer to family up north. Florida stopped being what they wanted, so they moved to a state between Florida and home.

In a national count of 2025 moves, South Carolina gained more residents 65 and older than any state, about 5,400 net. Nearly 1,900 of them came from Florida, more than from any state except North Carolina. Most people moving into the Myrtle Beach area still come from the Northeast, so a Floridian who grew up in New York or New Jersey will meet neighbors who grew up where they did.

From here, the mid-Atlantic is one day of driving instead of two. Most Northeast cities are one nonstop flight. Grandchildren can visit in either direction without a connecting flight. Winter stays warm enough to golf year-round. If you are moving for retirement, the retiring here page covers what changes in a purchase after 65.

The biggest number

What a Florida sale buys at the coast

Your own metro matters more than the Florida statewide number. In the July 2026 price data, a typical home cost about $478,000 in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale metro, about $554,000 around Naples, about $404,000 around Sarasota and Bradenton, about $387,000 around Orlando, and about $362,000 around Tampa, against about $342,000 here. Sell in one of the higher markets and $342,000 here buys a comparable house with money left over, or the same house with a smaller loan. Sell around Tampa or Orlando and prices are close to ours. Sell in an inland market like Ocala, where a typical home cost about $273,000, and homes here cost more. We will tell you which case you are in before you plan around it.

The difference can become a smaller loan, a bigger house, or savings. Prices differ by town here, and several towns around Myrtle Beach are smaller and quieter than Myrtle Beach itself. The which town page compares them before you book a trip.

The town

A smaller beach town that keeps the hospitals and the airport

Many Florida movers want a smaller town without losing a major airport and major hospitals. This area has both. The name Myrtle Beach covers a group of separate towns, and several are much quieter than the name suggests: Surfside Beach, Pawleys Island, Litchfield, Little River, Murrells Inlet. Each has its own price range. Many buyers who start out searching for Myrtle Beach buy in one of these towns instead.

Getting back to Florida for family is one flight, and the getting around page lists the airlines and the routes. The healthcare page lists each hospital with its bed count and address, and three more hospitals are under construction.

On the county's unincorporated beaches you can drive a golf cart on the sand from November 1 through February 28, and the beach rules page has the dog hours and umbrella rules town by town. Summers here are hot, like Florida's. Autumn and winter are cooler than Florida's, and winter is cool enough for a jacket. The weather page has the numbers season by season, including the ocean temperature month by month.

Daily costs

Groceries, gas and the power bill

Most daily costs are lower here. Groceries cost less than the Florida average and are untaxed in both states. The gas tax is about 11 cents a gallon lower, on top of the price difference at the pump. The typical electric bill is a few dollars a month lower. These numbers come from the same price data behind our cost of living calculator, which compares your own metro against the Grand Strand.

One cost is higher here: the general sales tax is 8 percent in unincorporated Horry County and 9 percent in the City of Myrtle Beach, against roughly 7 percent average combined in Florida.

Insurance

What insurance costs here, and what it costs where you are

On average it costs less here. Priced on the same $300,000 house, a Myrtle Beach policy averages about $4,500 a year. The Florida statewide average is about $6,500. Your own metro matters more than the state number, the same way it does with home prices.

Coming from Miami you would pay roughly $11,000 a year less. From Naples, roughly $6,000 less. From Cape Coral, roughly $4,300 less. From Tampa about $1,800 less and from Orlando about $850 less.

Buy through Chapter 3 Realty and we get you written wind, hail and flood quotes on the exact house before you make an offer, so you compare a real number here against your real Florida bill. The coastal insurance page explains what sets the premium here, what the wind deductible means in dollars, and when flood coverage is required.

If you are selling because of a condo assessment, bring the paperwork when we talk. Florida's rules after the Surfside collapse require structural inspections of condo and co-op buildings three stories and taller once they reach 30 years, with the association paying for the work, and owners pay those costs through special assessments and higher dues. Those are Florida laws and they do not apply in South Carolina. A condo association in any state can still vote a special assessment, so before you offer on a building here we read its budget, reserves and assessment history with you.

You have lived through hurricane seasons, so we will keep this short. The storm history page lists every hurricane to reach the Grand Strand since Hugo and what each one did, so you can compare this coast's storm record with Florida's.

Full disclosure

The taxes, honestly

Most Florida movers pay more total tax after this move, and we would rather show that than hide it. The calculator below opens on a Florida example with the deductions already applied. Change any line to your own numbers and it gives you the difference in dollars. Every tax on both sides is listed under it.

Side by side

What Florida taxes you now, and what South Carolina would

It opens on a real example. Change any line to your own numbers and press Calculate. It estimates the income tax, the local income tax where your town charges one, and the property tax on both ends, and the difference in home price. Estimates, not facts. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

An estimate, not a fact. Rates, brackets and retirement rules come from each state's own department of revenue and statutes for 2026, and the Myrtle Beach property tax uses Horry County's 2025 certified millage for an owner-occupied home outside the city limits, with the 4 percent residential ratio, the school operating exemption and the 65 and older homestead exemption. Left out on both sides: federal tax, car taxes, insurance, and any credit that depends on your own return. Where a state rule is too detailed to model we leave it out, and almost every one of those left out would RAISE the bill in the state you are leaving, not lower it: Connecticut's tax recapture, New York's supplemental tax, and the exemption phase-outs in Maryland and Ohio. Three would LOWER it, and we name them: Pennsylvania's tax forgiveness and the Massachusetts senior circuit breaker are low-income credits we do not apply, and Florida caps how fast a homesteaded home's assessed value can rise, so a long-held Florida home's real bill is below our estimate. If one of those is you, your bill in the state you are leaving is lower than we show. Insurance is a separate cost to check on this coast, usually higher here than in the states up north; coming from coastal Florida it is priced address by address, in both directions. The coastal insurance page has the real numbers. Your accountant gives you the final answer, and we will sit down and go through it with you.

Line by line

Every tax, both states

Income

You start paying a state income tax. A working couple on $120,000 of wages pays about $3,700 a year here that Florida never charged. Retirees pay less: Social Security stays untaxed, and at 65 and older South Carolina deducts up to $15,000 of income per person on top of the standard deduction, which typically leaves a couple receiving $60,000 of pension and $30,000 of Social Security owing nothing. A couple taking $100,000 or more a year from IRAs will owe income tax here, and the calculator below shows the figure. Military retirement is untaxed in both states.

The house

The property tax is lower here: roughly $1,390 a year on a $378,000 primary home in unincorporated Horry County against about $2,900 at Florida's average rate on a new purchase. One warning for long-time owners: your current Florida bill is probably lower than that average because of the cap on assessed value, and that protection ends when you sell no matter where you go next, so compare your actual bill instead of the average. The cap's benefit can move to another Florida homestead but not across the state line. At 65 and older, after a year of residency here, a homestead exemption takes the first $50,000 of value off the bill. The property tax page has the calculator and the application deadline.

The car and the estate

The car tax is the one new bill: South Carolina taxes every vehicle yearly on its value, roughly $360 to $460 on a $30,000 car plus a $50 road fee, with a one-time $250 fee per vehicle and a 45 day registration window; steps are on the new resident checklist. Neither state taxes estates or inheritances, so your estate plan does not need to change for tax reasons. Florida charges no tax for moving out of the state.

The calculator below runs all of it against your own numbers and says plainly when the answer is that you would pay more.

Common questions

Florida to Myrtle Beach FAQ

Sources: Florida Constitution, Article VII, Florida DOR on the assessment cap, Florida vehicle registration fees, South Carolina 2026 income tax, Horry County vehicle tax, 2025 retiree moving study, Florida inspection law, home insurance averages by state and city. We are not tax advisers; rates change and your situation decides the answer. Verify with a professional before you plan around any of it.