MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Myrtle Beach is a popular vacation spot, but more and more people are moving to live in the area full-time every year.
Vehicle property taxes, cost of living, and rent prices are just a few of the important things that might surprise them about moving to the beach.
Past analysis by News13 found North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Maryland, Connecticut, Ohio, and Massachusetts are the top states that are providing Myrtle Beach with the most growth.
In South Carolina, residents do not need to have their cars inspected, but they do have to pay yearly property taxes on their cars.
According to the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, a new resident should get a South Carolina driver’s license and transfer their vehicle’s title and registration within 45 days. Vehicle property taxes must be paid with the county treasurer before transferring the title and registration.
According to the DMV, registering vehicles in South Carolina for the first time requires the following:
- Updated vehicle insurance policy with new South Carolina address
- Paid property tax on the vehicle at the county treasurer’s office
- Visit the Department of Motor Vehicles with:
- Completed Title Application (SCDMV Form 400)
- Out-of-state vehicle title and/or registration
- Acceptable identification
- Liability insurance company information
- Power of attorney (if vehicle is leased)
- Original receipt for paid vehicle property tax from county treasurer’s office
- Pay a one-time $250 Infrastructure Maintenance Fee
- Title and registration payment
Drivers have 45 days to register their vehicles or addition fees will be incurred.
Every quarter, the cost of living in the United States is calculated by ACCRA with the national average being 100. The Myrtle Beach cost of living index is 94.1, which is lower than the national average, according to a cost-of-living table on the Visit Myrtle Beach website.

The average price of a home in September 2020 was $321,873, according to the Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors’s monthly market indicators.
The minimum wage in South Carolina is $7.25 while the average household income is $40,525, according to datausa.io.
In Myrtle Beach, the top three job categories are sales jobs (16.66%), food service (14.44%), and management occupations (8.64%), according to data from NeighborhoodScout.
NeighborhoodScout also says that residents of the city have one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.96 minutes getting to work every day.