Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 9,044 residents, this town was settled in 1960.
The picture is mixed. Litchfield Beach’s overall grade is C+, better than 38% of U.S. towns. That places it 82nd of 167 in South Carolina. Where it falls short is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $459K, 6.7 years of the Murrells Inlet area’s $69K median household income. It also trails on hazard risk — FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 97% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. Its strongest subject is health — CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 78% of the country. The town has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Atalaya and Chicora Wood Plantation. 48% of residents are 65 or older here, above both the South Carolina town median (17%) and the median of U.S. towns (18%).
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FEMA National Risk Index · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Litchfield Beach beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Litchfield Beach is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2014 and 3 maps from 1942 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Litchfield Beach is unincorporated, so Georgetown County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Litchfield Beach.
Litchfield Beach is a second-home town, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of South Carolina (mostly hurricanes) and has homes that cost more against local pay than most of South Carolina.
The public schools here belong to the Georgetown 01 school district. One of its 5 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. 3 public schools serve Litchfield Beach, with 1,287 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waccamaw ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–3 | Grades PK–3 | 543 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within SC on state tests and graduation
Litchfield Beach’s trail density is 0.9 miles per square mile. Walkers can cover 10 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. One park or preserve covers 7 acres locally.
| Litchfield Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.9 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.4% | 1.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Huntington Beach State Park | — | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 93% of South Carolina towns, with expected losses of about $1,897 per resident a year; that rating is what its D− for hazard risk is built on.
The national flood insurance program has paid 309 claims in Litchfield Beach since 1989. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 73% come from hurricanes and 12% from inland flooding.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For adults in Litchfield Beach, the share who had a checkup this year is 86%. Only 3 of the 169 South Carolina towns we compare have a lower share of adults who feel lonely than Litchfield Beach. CDC measures, 32 in all: Litchfield Beach beats South Carolina on 21 and trails on 6.
| Litchfield Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 18% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 33% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 86% | 80% | 79% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 38% | 36% |
| What stands out | Litchfield Beach | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.1% | 17.4% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 6.3% | 13.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 15.2% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
July afternoons average 88.5°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 96% of South Carolina places with climate records; January nights average 37.4°.
Its January low is 37°F. Only 6 of the 169 South Carolina towns we compare have a lower peak summer temperature than Litchfield Beach.
| Litchfield Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 37°F | 34°F | 22°F |
| July high | 89°F | 91°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Jobs based here grew from 2,797 in 2013 to 3,761.
16% of Litchfield Beach working residents work locally. Jobs based in Litchfield Beach grew to 3,761 in 2023, 964 more than in 2013. Its average trip to work stands at 22 minutes. For half of commuters, work is under 20 miles away.
| Litchfield Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 19% | 8.6% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 6.1% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 8.5% | 17% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 6.7 years of the Murrells Inlet area’s $69K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 96% of South Carolina towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living.
In Litchfield Beach, the median rent is $1,704 a month. The share of households in Litchfield Beach who live in a home they own: 83%. Also worth knowing: homes sold in Litchfield Beach spent a median 50 days on the market.
| Litchfield Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,704 a month | $1,058 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 83% | 65% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Litchfield Beach. Close and well known come first.
3 mi MuseumBrookgreen Gardens
20 mi BeachGrand Strand
4 mi MuseumHuntington Beach State Park
19 mi Theme parkFamily Kingdom Amusement Park
25 mi MuseumUnited States Post Office
26 mi MuseumBurroughs SchoolBrookgreen Gardens: Hisland7, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Grand Strand: Phil Guest from Bournemouth, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Huntington Beach State Park: Original uploader was Pendragon1998 at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Family Kingdom Amusement Park: Fk714, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United States Post Office: Pubdog, Public domain · Burroughs School: Pubdog, Public domain
None within 15 miles of Litchfield Beach; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Litchfield Beach residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across South Carolina.
3 places in Litchfield Beach on the National Register of Historic Places.
Census-designated place in South Carolina, United States
Litchfield Beach, also known simply as Litchfield, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Georgetown County, South Carolina, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 8,370. It lies three miles north of Pawleys Island, on the South Carolina Grand Strand. The communities Litchfield-By-The-Sea and North Litchfield are within Litchfield Beach. The community takes its name from Litchfield Plantation, a rice plantation founded early in the 18th century. It initially started in the 1950s as Retreat Beach. Modern development of the community began in the 1960s.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Litchfield Beach grades C+ overall, better than 38% of U.S. towns and #82 of 167 in South Carolina. It grades A− for health and C+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $459,000, 51% above the South Carolina typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
