Moving from Maryland
to Myrtle Beach.

The short answer

Maryland and South Carolina, side by side

Each line is explained below. Rates are the 2026 tax year unless the line says otherwise.

Maryland rates from the Comptroller of Maryland. Property figures are the most recent federal survey data. The calculator on our cost of living page runs the full comparison against your income.

Side by side

What you pay in taxes now, and what you would pay here

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 what the price of the house puts back in your pocket. 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. Two run the other way and we would rather name them: Pennsylvania's tax forgiveness and the Massachusetts senior circuit breaker are low-income credits we do not apply, so if you qualify for one, your bill up north is lower than we show. Insurance is its own question on this coast and usually costs more here than up north; the coastal insurance page has the real numbers. Your accountant has the last word, and we will sit down and go through it with you.

The county tax

You stop paying the county income tax

Maryland is unusual. Every county and Baltimore City charges an income tax on top of the state rate, and you pay it based on where you live rather than where you work. On the Comptroller's own 2025 rate chart those local rates run from 2.65 percent to 3.30 percent, and the great majority of counties sit at 3.20 percent. Two moved for 2026: Allegany rose to 3.20 percent and Kent to 3.30 percent.

South Carolina has no local income tax anywhere, in any county or town. So a Maryland household earning here keeps that entire amount, and it applies to the first dollar of income rather than the last.

The state rates themselves are closer than people expect. Maryland runs 4.75 percent on most middle incomes, up to $150,000 of taxable income on a joint return. South Carolina charges 1.99 percent on the first $30,000 and 5.21 percent above it, with a deduction that shrinks as joint income climbs from $80,000 to $190,000. Compare the state lines and it is not obvious. Add the county tax and it is.

Two Maryland rules bite harder at the top. The 2025 legislative session added brackets of 6.25 and 6.5 percent above $600,000 and $1,200,000 of taxable income on a joint return, and it imposed an additional 2 percent tax on net capital gains for anyone with federal adjusted gross income over $350,000. Maryland itemized deductions also phase out above $200,000 of federal AGI. If you are selling a business or a large position in the same year you move, the timing of that sale matters and it is a question for your accountant before you list the house.

Retirees

Check which exclusion you are relying on

Social Security is untaxed in both states, so that part of the move is neutral. Everything else needs looking at, because Maryland's pension exclusion is generous and it is age-gated.

Maryland excludes up to $39,500 of qualifying pension and retirement income for tax year 2024, and up to $41,200 for tax year 2025, if you were 65 or older on the last day of the year or you or your spouse were totally disabled. The figure is indexed, so always check the year on any number you are quoted, including this one. Military retirees at least 55 may subtract up to $20,000 of military retirement income.

South Carolina exempts military retirement fully at any age. Other retirement income is sheltered by a retirement deduction of up to $3,000 before 65 and up to $10,000 from 65, plus a separate age-65 deduction of up to $15,000. So a Maryland retiree already over 65 and drawing a large pension may find the income tax comparison closer than expected, while the county tax, the property tax and the estate tax all still move in their favor. Run it both ways before you decide, and the retiree page covers what else changes.

The estate

Maryland is the only state that charges both

Maryland levies an estate tax and an inheritance tax. The estate tax applies above a $5 million exemption at rates reaching 16 percent. The inheritance tax applies to property passing to heirs who are not direct lineal relatives, so children and grandchildren are exempt from it while a niece, a nephew or a friend is not.

South Carolina has neither. For a household with a paid-off house and retirement accounts, and for anyone whose plan leaves property to someone other than their children, this is a larger number than the annual tax lines above it. Where you are domiciled at death is what decides it, so if a move is part of that plan, do it properly rather than halfway. We are not tax advisers and this is a conversation for your own; what we can tell you is that it comes up on this page more than any other.

The rest of the bill

Property tax drops, sales tax rises, and the car is new

Property tax

Maryland runs about 0.92 percent effective statewide with a median bill of $4,144. South Carolina runs about 0.49 percent, and Horry County about 0.38 percent on a primary home, where the primary rate also removes the school operating tax. The median bill here is $1,337. You apply for the primary rate yourself, and the property tax page has the calculator and the deadline.

The car tax is genuinely new

This is the one that catches Maryland movers, because Maryland does not bill you for your car every year. Here every vehicle is taxed on its value annually, the county bill must be paid before the plate renews, and a vehicle titled elsewhere pays a one-time $250 fee at first registration. You have 45 days from the move. Boats and campers work the same way. The steps in order are on the new resident checklist.

Sales tax goes up

Maryland charges 6 percent with no local add-on, and exempts groceries. Here it is 8 percent in the county and 9 percent inside the City of Myrtle Beach, and groceries are untaxed in Horry County. On everything that is not food, you will pay more.

What the sale buys

What a Maryland sale buys at the coast

A typical Maryland home runs about $433,000 on the statewide Zillow average, against about $342,000 here, on the same July 2026 measure. A statewide average hides the county you actually live in, so run your own city through the cost of living calculator; it takes about a minute. The property tax on whatever you buy drops from a $4,144 median bill to a $1,337 one, and if you will be earning here rather than bringing income with you, the jobs page sets out the local pay honestly.

Myrtle Beach on this page means the whole run of towns: Conway inland, North Myrtle Beach and Little River to the north, Surfside Beach, Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island to the south. The same money buys a different house in each, and the town by town page lays out what actually differs between them.

First hand

What a Howard County transplant noticed here

A colleague of ours made this exact move from Clarksville and then Columbia, in Howard County. Three of his observations hold up and are worth having before you arrive.

The organic food moved from the store to the farm. He finds the grocery stores here carry less of what he bought off the shelf in Maryland, and the answer turned out to be the farm stands and butcher shops, which are more common here and closer to town than the ones he knew in Maryland.

Summer is motorcycle season. He counts far more bikes here than he ever saw in Maryland, and Devin, who wrote this page, rides one himself: the roads are flat and straight, and the riding season is most of the year.

There is construction everywhere, because the growth statistics on our jobs page are visible from the road. New neighborhoods, new stores and three new hospitals at once. Coming from a settled Maryland suburb, that is the change he says you notice first.

Common questions

Maryland to Myrtle Beach FAQ

Sources: Comptroller of Maryland 2026 withholding information, Maryland 2025 resident booklet, Maryland Technical Bulletin 51, South Carolina 2026 income tax, Tax Foundation property taxes, Census QuickFacts, Zillow research data. We are not tax advisers; rates change and your situation decides the answer. Verify with a professional before you plan around any of it.