Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,392.
Surfside Beach grades C overall, 94th of 167 graded towns in South Carolina, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Its schools rank ahead of 77% of South Carolina towns. On the other side, FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 90% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. 12% of residents are under 18 in Surfside Beach, against 22% in South Carolina’s towns and 22% across U.S. towns. Only 21 of South Carolina’s 261 towns score lower on cost of living. Surfside Beach's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 86% of U.S. towns.
Where Surfside Beach beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Surfside Beach’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Surfside Beach is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,329 in 1970, 4,155 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 1985 and 3 maps from 1937 on.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Surfside Beach, 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Surfside Beach.
Surfside Beach is a second-home town and draws workers from Socastee and beyond, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of South Carolina (mostly hurricanes).
2,788 jobs are based in Surfside Beach, 1.7 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Surfside Beach for work: only 11% work in town. The average trip to work in Surfside Beach is 20 minutes. Since 2013, Surfside Beach has added 170 jobs, to 2,788 in 2023.
| Surfside Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 17% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 13% | 8.6% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 11% | 6.1% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 78% of South Carolina towns, with expected losses of about $1,030 per resident a year; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on. 567 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 23 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1979, 567 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Surfside Beach.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 10,509 U.S. towns with household incomes like Surfside Beach’s, it is healthier than 86%, so its B+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Surfside Beach beats the South Carolina average on 18 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 26% of adults feel lonely in Surfside Beach. Only 7 of the 169 South Carolina towns we compare have a lower share of adults who sleep under 7 hours than Surfside Beach.
| Surfside Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 33% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 38% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 84% | 80% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 18% | 17% |
| What stands out | Surfside Beach | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 4.6% | 8.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 6.9% | 13.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 13.3% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
37.8% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 4.5% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
Surfside Beach’s median age is 55.5 years. Surfside Beach has grown 5.9% since 2020, to 4,392 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 29% of Surfside Beach residents are 65 or older.
| Surfside Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 55.5 years | 38.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 29% | 17% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 40% | 23% | 29% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.3 points. Across South Carolina, 51.3% of residents are women.
| Surfside Beach | SC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 5.1% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.9% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.8% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.6% | 12.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.3% | 12.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.5% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 21.9% | 13.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 19.4% | 11.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.5% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.4% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24.8% | 28.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.6% | 19.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.7% | 10% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22.2% | 19.8% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 17.3% | 12.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,400, single groups can be off by several points
Within South Carolina, it does better than 72% of towns.
| Surfside Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.5 per 1,000 residents | 4.3 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 15.6 per 1,000 residents | 21.7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
July afternoons average 88.4°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 98% of South Carolina places with climate records; January nights average 37.1°.
Surfside Beach has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Only 2 of the 169 South Carolina towns we compare have a lower July high than Surfside Beach.
| Surfside Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 37°F | 34°F | 22°F |
| July high | 88°F | 91°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Surfside Beach home is worth about $360,000, up 2.6% in a year, 18% above the South Carolina typical home.
| Surfside Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,274 a month | $1,058 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 68% | 65% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Surfside Beach | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.4% | 1.8% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. W.O. "Bill" Martin Park | — | 4 |
| 2. Fuller Park | — | 2 |
| 3. Surfside Dog Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Surfside Beach. Close and well known come first.
7 mi BeachGrand Strand
9 mi MuseumBrookgreen Gardens
7 mi Theme parkFamily Kingdom Amusement Park
8 mi MuseumHuntington Beach State Park
16 mi MuseumUnited States Post Office
17 mi MuseumBurroughs SchoolGrand Strand: Phil Guest from Bournemouth, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Brookgreen Gardens: Hisland7, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Family Kingdom Amusement Park: Fk714, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Huntington Beach State Park: Original uploader was Pendragon1998 at en.wikipedia, Public domain · United States Post Office: Pubdog, Public domain · Burroughs School: Pubdog, Public domain
2 within 15 miles of the center of Surfside Beach
About 6 of every 100 Surfside Beach residents are enrolled in college, about the same as South Carolina.
One town shares a border with Surfside Beach.
| Town | SC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surfside Beach | #94 | C | C− | C | A− | B+ |
| Garden City | #105 | C | C+ | — | A− | C+ |
Garden City reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Surfside Beach with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Surfside Beach grades C overall, better than 32% of U.S. towns and #94 of 167 in South Carolina. It grades B+ for health, C for safety and A− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Within South Carolina, it does better than 72% of towns.
Yes. That is 5.4 years of the area's median household income ($66,880 across the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
