What salary do you need to live in Myrtle Beach, SC?

What housing costs in Myrtle Beach

A one-bedroom in Myrtle Beach rents for a median of $1,061 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,241 and a three-bedroom for $1,399. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $14,892.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $287,700. With median household income at $66,880, a typical home costs 4.3× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 93.6 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Myrtle Beach has the buying power of roughly $106,790 at national average prices.

Myrtle Beach: the pre-tax income for each grade

The salary lines for a two-bedroom household land at $36,000 for Tight, $72,000 for Okay and $145,000 for Comfortable. The gap between the Okay and Comfortable lines alone is $73,000, which says how much extra income it takes to make housing feel roomy here rather than merely workable.

Reaching Royal takes $411,000 — 2.8× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

Nothing here is a separate rule of thumb; plug any of these incomes into the calculator with two bedrooms and Myrtle Beach shows the matching grade.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Myrtle Beach

Home size shifts the grade at $75,000: Okay for one bedroom, Okay for two and Tight for three, as the rent share climbs from 17% to 22%.

The two-bedroom column turns Comfortable at the $150,000 row. One row up, $100,000 scores 55.

How Myrtle Beach ranks among 387 metros

On price level Myrtle Beach is 191st of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 144th, and on median home value 165th. The two rankings agree, both falling in the middle half.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are New Orleans-Metairie, LA ($1,242) and Columbus, IN ($1,239).

Comparing Myrtle Beach with South Carolina

Statewide, South Carolina's median two-bedroom rent is $1,148 and its median home value $259,000. Myrtle Beach's rent is +8% against that, and its home value +11%; the price parity is 93.6 versus 93.7 for the state.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $132,000, so Myrtle Beach needs $13,000 more than South Carolina overall.

The nearest matches in South Carolina, judged on rent and price parity together, are Columbia, SC, Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC, and Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC.

The median Myrtle Beach household

The median household in the metro earns $66,880 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 43, Tight. That falls $78,120 short of the $145,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For South Carolina as a whole, the median household income of $69,324 scores 47 against statewide rents. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.