Myrtle Beach tops charts as city for newcomers, retirees. Only this Florida city draws more

In 2023, people continued to move to Myrtle Beach and South Carolina in droves.

That includes thousands of retirees who are making the Myrtle Beach area their new home.

Myrtle Beach placed No. 2 on the list of cities with top inflow in the country, being beaten by The Villages in Florida for the No. 1 spot, according to Move Buddha, an online company that helps people find and compare local and long-distance movers. This means Myrtle Beach is seeing nearly three times as many people move in as move out, with 282 people coming for every 100 people that leave.

South Carolina saw twice as many people move into the state as move out, placing the state at the No. 1 spot on the company’s list of top-ranking states with the most people moving in.

These numbers are no surprise as Horry County has seen an explosion of growth over the past 25 years, with the population nearly doubling since 2000, according to USA Facts. In 2000, there were about 198,000 people living in Horry County. That number grew to over 380,000 in 2022.

South Carolina’s lower cost of living, mild weather and plethora of beaches are what tends to draw people in, especially retirees.

Hire a Helper, another moving company, found that about 16,000 retirees, with most over the age of 55, moved to the Myrtle Beach area in 2023. This includes Myrtle Beach, Conway and North Myrtle Beach.

In Horry County, the percentage of people over the age of 65 is higher than the national average, with 26% of Horry County residents being over age 65 compared to 17% in the United States, according to USA Facts. In the past 10 years, the percentage of people over 65 has grown significantly.

The company also saw that people retired younger in 2023, with 23% of Americans who were moving for retirement being under the age of 55. They were also more likely to be unmarried.