Is Loris a good place to live?
Loris gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $252K, 3.8 years of the Myrtle Beach metro’s $67K median household income. It grades C− overall, ranked 116th of 167 in South Carolina. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 89% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top, and it reports more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, including 15 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. On the plus side, its public schools beat 77% of South Carolina towns on state tests and graduation. Loris’ median age is 51.2 years, above both South Carolina’s towns (38.9 years) and U.S. towns (40.5 years). Loris's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 96% of U.S. towns. Only 10 of the 169 South Carolina towns we compare have a higher average trip to work than Loris.
What makes Loris stand out
Where Loris beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Jobs vs. working residents
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Loris Elementary | PK–5 | 790 |
| Loris High | 9–12 | 857 |
Every workday, about 2,032 people come to Loris for work
Where Loris’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Loris grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Loris is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Loris: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Loris, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Loris.
Loris pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices and trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of South Carolina (mostly hurricanes).
About one in eight working residents works right in Loris
2,144 jobs are based in Loris, 2.2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Loris for work: only 12% work in town. 23% of Loris residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Loris has added 334 jobs, to 2,144 in 2023.
| Loris | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 23% | 17% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $37,000 | $57,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 6.1% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Loris earns an A− for schools
Its A− for schools comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $252K.
Its public schools are run by the Horry 01 school district. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Loris High, with 857 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loris ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 790 | C+ |
| Loris HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 857 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within SC on state tests and graduation
Loris earns a D for safety
Loris’ violent crime rate is 5.1 per 1,000 residents. Loris reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 86% report less. Loris’ property crime rate is 16.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Loris | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.1 per 1,000 residents | 3.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 16.8 per 1,000 residents | 21.7 | 9.9 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Very high risk in Loris, with hurricanes at the top
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 76% of South Carolina towns, with expected losses of about $1,202 per resident a year; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on. 51 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 11 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1981, 51 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Loris.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
On CDC estimates, Loris is less healthy than 82% of U.S. towns
Against the 1,607 U.S. towns with household incomes like Loris’s, it is healthier than 76%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
Loris beats the South Carolina average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 18. 46% of adults have high blood pressure in Loris.
| Loris | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 46% | 40% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 16% |
| What stands out | Loris | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 12.7% | 15.7% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 84.6% | 80.2% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 5.4% | 3.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Loris has mild winters and hot summers
Loris has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Loris is 90°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Loris earns a B+ for cost of living
Homes are within reach (about $252K for the typical one, B+ for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 21 miles.
The typical Loris home is worth about $252,000, up 2.3% in a year, 17% below the South Carolina typical home.
| Loris | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 56% | 65% | 73% |
| Median rent | $694 a month | $1,062 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Conserved land covers 1.3% of Loris
Just 39 of its 2,944 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Loris itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
0.0 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Heniford Field, at 31 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Heniford Field | — | 31 |
| 2. Loris Nature Park | — | 9 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Loris
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Loris; the nearest are
About 1 of every 100 Loris residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across South Carolina.
About Loris
City in South Carolina, United States
Loris is a city in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Loris had a population of 2,449.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 4.6 sq mi
- Elevation
- 98 ft
- ZIP code
- 29569
- Area code
- 843
Questions about Loris
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Loris, SC a good place to live?
Loris grades C− overall, better than 21% of U.S. towns and #116 of 167 in South Carolina. It grades C− for health, D for safety and A− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Loris, SC safe?
Within South Carolina, it does better than 55% of towns.
Is Loris, SC expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
What is Loris, SC known for?
2 notable people were born here, including Robert H. Brooks and William Luther Rhodes.