Town · Horry County, South Carolina

Surfside Beach, South Carolina

Surfside Beach is a town in Horry County, South Carolina, part of the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC metro area. It has 4,270 residents. Surfside Beach, South Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 45 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,581 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within South Carolina it ranks #68 of 268 cities and towns. It ranks best on loneliness (low), restaurants and bars (high) and comfortable days (high). It ranks worst on natural hazard risk (high), home price to income ratio (high) and drug overdose deaths (high).

45Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #8,581 of 15,651 cities and towns
South Carolina: #68 of 268 in SC
Population: 4,270 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 2,191.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 4570585

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety10#14,024/15,637
Economy33#10,521/15,631
Housing33#10,020/14,977
Health47#8,345/15,609
Healthcare27#11,453/15,650
Environment54#7,148/15,453
Education81#2,965/15,649
Infrastructure60#6,216/15,650
Community55#7,028/15,651
Leisure & amenities84#2,552/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Surfside Beach, South Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Horry County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Loneliness · low29.3%
97/100South Carolina 32.7%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Restaurants and bars · high16.4 /10k
96/100South Carolina 9.7 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsHorry County value
Comfortable days · high34.0%
93/100South Carolina 31.6%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationHorry County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.45%
91/100South Carolina 0.49%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Arts, entertainment and recreation · high6.9 /10k
87/100South Carolina 5.1 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsHorry County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100South Carolina 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteHorry County value

Weaknesses

Natural hazard risk · high93.5
6/100South Carolina 51.22025Federal Emergency Management AgencyHorry County value
Home price to income ratio · high6.4×
9/100South Carolina 3.7×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Drug overdose deaths · high27.7 /100k
12/100South Carolina 22.1 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataHorry County value
Child poverty rate · high45.2%
12/100South Carolina 18.1%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Average weekly wage · low$962
12/100South Carolina $1,226United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsHorry County value
Unemployment rate · high8.6%
14/100South Carolina 4.5%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateWorsening
31.4% (2015-2019) → 45.2% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
New homes permittedWorsening
7.7 /1k (2021) → 3.7 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−51%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
22.0% (2015-2019) → 14.7% (2020-2024)
−7.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
4.8× (2015-2019) → 6.4× (2020-2024)
+33%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Poverty rateWorsening
10.8% (2015-2019) → 16.8% (2020-2024)
+6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$55,099 (2015-2019) → $70,106 (2020-2024)
+27%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Surfside Beach, South Carolina improved on 1 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 13 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Household income+27%$55,099 → $70,106

Declined1

Price / income+1.6×4.8× → 6.4×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Surfside Beach, South Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.6 min2015-2019	20.2 min2020-2024	+0.6 min	Within the margin of error	41%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.1%2015-2019	39.5%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	62%
Broadband subscriptions	86.9%2015-2019	89.0%2020-2024	+2.1 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Child poverty rate	31.4%2015-2019	45.2%2020-2024	+14 points	Within the margin of error	8%
Effective property tax rate	0.46%2015-2019	0.45%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	19%
High school diploma or higher	93.0%2015-2019	96.6%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Home price to income ratio	4.8×2015-2019	6.4×2020-2024	+1.6×	Declined	8%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4352015-2019	0.4222020-2024	−0.013	Within the margin of error	62%
Median household income	$55,0992015-2019	$70,1062020-2024	+27%	Improved	49%
Poverty rate	10.8%2015-2019	16.8%2020-2024	+6 points	Within the margin of error	10%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	25.8%2015-2019	30.1%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	25%
Rent-burdened households	45.4%2015-2019	50.2%2020-2024	+4.8 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Unemployment rate	9.5%2015-2019	8.6%2020-2024	−1 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	22.0%2015-2019	14.7%2020-2024	−7.3 points	Within the margin of error	93%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Surfside Beach, South Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Surfside Beach, South Carolina in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Surfside Beach, South Carolina itself moved −5.3 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

4,270 residents (±20)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

2,034 households (±130)

Surfside Beach, South Carolina
South Carolina share

Under $25k16%†328
$25k–50k21%428
$50k–75k17%353

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

2,034 households (±130)

Surfside Beach, South Carolina
South Carolina share

Own67%1,372
Rent33%662

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,633 workers (±185)

Surfside Beach, South Carolina
South Carolina share

Drive alone71%1,161
Carpool7.7%†126
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Horry County, the county holding most of Surfside Beach's residents.

Horry County has 10,550 employer establishments, 265 for every 10,000 residents (1.07× the US rate of 248; 1.16× South Carolina's), with 123,792 paid employees at an average annual pay of $42,014. The Census Bureau also counts 38,703 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 10,550; 38,703 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 265; US 248 · South Carolina 228
Paid employees: 123,792
Average annual pay: $42,014; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Horry County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	1,100	27.6	1.50×More than typical	23,092	$23,311	235
Lessors of real estate	943	23.7	1.92×More than typical	4,454	$48,446	5,571
Specialty trade contractors	797	20	1.29×More than typical	5,511	$52,309	2,983
Ambulatory health care services	737	18.5	0.89×About typical	6,417	$75,634	1,230
Full-service restaurants	588	14.7	1.92×More than typical	13,987	$24,851	119
Real estate agents and brokers	499	12.5	2.57×More than typical	1,826	$54,653	2,099
Services to buildings and dwellings	427	10.7	1.59×More than typical	2,663	$37,607	3,293
Clothing and accessories stores	390	9.8	2.70×More than typical	4,318	$24,179	341
Limited-service restaurants	389	9.8	1.22×About typical	6,938	$20,334	78
Construction of buildings	312	7.8	1.03×About typical	1,790	$75,722	1,326
Offices of physicians	283	7.1	1.10×About typical	2,848	$97,008	253
Building equipment contractors	252	6.3	1.05×About typical	2,552	$56,267	550

Rank places for an industry Open Horry County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 398,699 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $25.1K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Surfside Beach, South Carolina: $5.88 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $25.1K; −75% vs FY2025
Per resident: $5.88; US $1,995
Sole-source: 100%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Navy$22.8K91%
Millennium Challenge Corporation$2,2899.1%

Top recipients

ADVANCED EEO SOLUTIONS LLC$25.1K100%

Spending by fiscal year

86.2KFY2017
3.6KFY2018
-3.8KFY2019
-236.6FY2020
5.9KFY2021
1.6KFY2022
42.6KFY2023
136KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Investigation and security services · 5616$25.1K100.0%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, so they do not add up across cities.

Surfside Beach, South Carolina's figures are part of those of Horry County, SC ($32.6M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Surfside Beach is mostly in Horry County.

See federal money in Horry County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Surfside Beach, South Carolina is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Russell FryR-SC-7 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 0.6%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Horry County50100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC50

Other cities and towns in Horry County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4570585

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends