Can You Afford to Retire in Myrtle Beach in 2026?

1 hour ago 2

Drew Wood

Thu, June 4, 2026 astatine 10:00 AM CDT 6 min read

Quick Read

A retired mates needs astir $72,000 to $80,000 annually successful Myrtle Beach, requiring a portfolio of $650,000 to $800,000 nether a 4% withdrawal rate.
Coastal homeowners security runs $5,500 to $8,000 per twelvemonth adjacent the water, rising faster than ostentation and crowding retired discretionary status spending implicit time.
Two mean Social Security benefits supply astir $49,700 successful tax-free authorities income annually, leaving a $22,000 to $30,000 spread for the portfolio to fill.
A caller survey identified 1 azygous wont that doubled Americans’ status savings and moved status from dream, to reality. Read much here.

For galore retirees, Myrtle Beach represents a circumstantial imaginativeness of retirement: greeting walks connected the beach, day rounds of golf, little taxes than galore Northeastern states, and a outgo of surviving that inactive looks manageable connected paper. The entreaty is obvious. The harder question is what that manner really costs successful 2026 erstwhile housing, insurance, healthcare, taxes, and mundane expenses are added together.

The reply is much nuanced than galore status calculators suggest. Myrtle Beach remains little costly than galore coastal status destinations, but the numbers enactment lone erstwhile the afloat outgo of surviving connected the Grand Strand is priced realistically.

What it really costs to unrecorded connected the Grand Strand

South Carolina lands astatine a cost-of-living scale of 94.7, beneath the nationalist average, portion Florida sits astatine 102.2. Coastal Horry County looks favorable connected lodging but little truthful connected insurance, truthful the fund has to beryllium built enactment by line.

Housing: The median database terms successful Myrtle Beach due sits astir $265,000, with Zillow showing a median merchantability terms adjacent $272,000 and Redfin showing a little three-month median merchantability terms adjacent $232,000. Single-family homes often terms higher than the header median, portion condos propulsion the wide fig down.
Insurance is wherever world diverges from the brochure. A modular HO-3 argumentation successful Myrtle Beach present averages astir $4,500 a twelvemonth for $300,000 successful dwelling coverage. Homes eastbound of Highway 17 oregon successful flood zones transportation combined wind, hail, and flood premiums northbound of $7,000. Plan connected $5,500 to $8,000 annually if you unrecorded adjacent the water.
Healthcare for a 65-year-old mates connected Medicare follows a predictable structure. Part B successful 2026 is $202.90 per idiosyncratic per month, with a $283 yearly deductible. Add Medigap Plan G and Part D for each spouse, positive dental and imaginativeness retired of pocket, and reserve astir $12,000 to $14,000 a year. Higher income retirees transverse the archetypal IRMAA tier and adhd different $81 per idiosyncratic per month.