Photo: w:User:Isipeoria · CC BY-SA 3.0Myrtle Beach records more crime per resident than almost every U.S. town
It has more violent crime than 98% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 99%. In a usual year, 10.7 violent crimes and 56.3 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of South Carolina, 5.0 and 26.6. Its Safety Grade is D−, on crimes Myrtle Beach’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #72 of 87 graded towns in South Carolina.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of SC” is every other South Carolina city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Myrtle Beach
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 South Carolina towns on Myrtle Beach’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: North Myrtle Beach (D). Socastee is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
Among South Carolina towns, closer to the middle
South Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Myrtle Beach’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 17% of the 87 South Carolina towns we grade, against 1% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Myrtle Beach has 37,876 jobs based in town for 40,937 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Myrtle Beach’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Myrtle Beach | Rest of South Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.1 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 10.0 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 11.1 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 11.0 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Myrtle Beach’s police reported 1,312 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 10.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of South Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Myrtle Beach per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 11 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Myrtle Beach property | Rest of South Carolina property | Myrtle Beach violent | Rest of South Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 67.0 | 30.3 | 10.1 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 58.9 | 29.8 | 10.0 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 56.6 | 27.1 | 11.1 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 53.6 | 23.0 | 11.0 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of South Carolina.
2,697 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
458 violent and 2,239 property, as reported to the FBI by Myrtle Beach’s police.
47 people died in crashes on Myrtle Beach’s roads in 2019–2023
Myrtle Beach had 41 fatal crashes in five years, in which 47 people died; 15 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists.
That is 24.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for South Carolina towns of 25,000–100,000 people (8.8, 20 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Myrtle Beach and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myrtle Beach | D− | 10.7 | 56.3 |
| North Myrtle Beach | D | 3.7 | 36.9 |
| Socastee | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Socastee is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
South Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myrtle Beach | D− | 10.7 | 56.3 |
| Fort Mill | A− | 0.5 | 5.8 |
| Bluffton | B+ | 0.8 | 8.3 |
| Aiken | D | 4.5 | 36.0 |
| Sumter | D− | 9.0 | 34.6 |
| Florence | D− | 8.6 | 43.2 |
The five graded South Carolina towns closest to Myrtle Beach’s population (40,937), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Myrtle Beach. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Myrtle Beach’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (41,764 in 2025); our figure for Myrtle Beach is 40,937 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Myrtle Beach
Is Myrtle Beach, SC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Myrtle Beach reports more crime per resident than 99% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #72 of 87 in South Carolina. Its police reported 10.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of South Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Myrtle Beach?
10.7 violent and 56.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of South Carolina reports 5.0 and 26.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Myrtle Beach in 2025?
Myrtle Beach’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Myrtle Beach safer than North Myrtle Beach?
North Myrtle Beach reports less crime per resident than Myrtle Beach: North Myrtle Beach grades D for safety and Myrtle Beach D−. North Myrtle Beach’s police reported 3.7 violent and 36.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Myrtle Beach?
Myrtle Beach’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Myrtle Beach”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Myrtle Beach.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.