Terrible Place to Live
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8/16/2017
I have lived in Myrtle Beach for 20 years (since I was 4). I know all of the ins and outs. I know what it is like to be a child here, a teen here, and now an adult. And there are a few things I can tell you:
If you are planning on raising kids here, ESPECIALLY teens, please quickly reconsider. All of the high schools are riddled with drug issues/overdose deaths, STDS and teen pregnancy. There are very few teens that are actually able to focus on school and stay on the right path. It is not an easy thing to do, here. There are SO MANY drugs in this city.
If you have a lot of money and can afford to live in either Murrells Inlet, Litchfield, or Pawley's Island, then you are in great shape. Those are all great alternative, but they are only affordable to those with a substantial amount of money. (I'm talking at least 400k for a house).
If you do not have copious amounts of money, you can find very affordable housing everywhere else, in Myrtle Beach, Socastee, Surfside, North Myrtle Beach, etc. You can get a great 3 or 4 bedroom house for around $200-$250k, BUT these other areas have a lot of crime problems, so beware (and it's not just the tourists). There is also human trafficking problems in the area, do not let your young daughters go wandering around at night, especially alone.
The summers are so humid, you step outside and feel like you are in a swimming pool. If you do not mind that, then great. It is warm almost all year, with January and February being the coldest months, but it rarely ever snows. Only 3 times in my 20 years here did it snow more than 1/2 inch. So I guess that is a good aspect of the area.
There are nice beaches down toward Surfside and Murrells Inlet, try to avoid Myrtle Beach shores, they are crowded with rowdy tourists, especially May through September.
There is no kind of culture here, kind of boring I guess you could say. Not much diversity. It is mostly Rednecks and also transplants from the Northeast. It's a weird combination. But the city is very commercial, almost ever restaurant you see is just another chain restaurant. There are some nice seafood restaurants at the Marsh Walk in Murrells Inlet, that is a very nice little stretch.
Market Common is a trending little part of town, it's nice and clean, but there are a limited amount of stores and activities there. I wish they would add more, but all they are doing is adding more single family homes, which is somewhat aggravating. Oh yea, and there are at least 50,000 people a year that are moving to the area and we only have 2 roads running north/south and 2 road running east/west, so that will eventually mean terrible terrible traffic (we already experience pretty bad traffic during the summer because of tourists).
All in all, I would never raise my kids here and I am trying to get out of here soon before I have any. I made it through this wilderness by keeping my head down, keeping in line at school, and spending more time down towards the Inlet than up towards the city of Myrtle Beach.
Sorry for talking so much, but I just wanted to cover everything.
C | Socastee, SC