By admin 
Four South Carolina cities made a national list of 50 most livable retirement towns.
Read more Chapin’s Brighton development fight escalates. Here’s what to know
They are No. 20 Murrells Inlet, No. 21 Garden City, No. 43 North Myrtle Beach and No. 49 Little River.
GOBankingRates relied on AreaVibes, which says they create “a Livability Score for any city, neighborhood, address or zip/postal code you can think of, and looked at the U.S. Census 2023 5-Year American Community Survey with populations of at least 10,000 and percentages for people 65 and older and median household income.”
Dunedin, Florida, was the most livable retirement town with Ormond Beach and Sebastian coming in second and third. Florida had 26 spots on the 50-city lists.
Arizona had the next most with eight.
South Carolina ranked third with its four, all of which are in and around Myrtle Beach.
Nine other states were represented— Illinois with two and Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, California and Georgia each had one.
Murrells Inlet is not actually a town but an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Georgetown County, about 13 miles south of Myrtle Beach. It sneaks past the population requirement with an estimated population of 10,478 in 2025.
Murrells Inlet has gotten a lot of attention in recent years from national and regional magazines, including Travel + Leisure’s list of charming South Carolina beach towns and Southern Living’s best beaches.
Once a small shipping area for rice, indigo, turpentine, cotton, and peanuts to Great Britain and the northern colonies, it is located in the Long Bay region which drains into the Atlantic Ocean and includes the Waccamaw River.
“Most vacationers won’t think of Murrells Inlet when they think of South Carolina, but as the seafood capital of the state, this neighborhood is worth adding to your itinerary,” Southern Living said.
The magazine called it a prime destination for fishing, water sports, and sunset viewing, especially along The MarshWalk, a half-mile boardwalk along its saltwater estuary and its eight waterfront restaurants.\
There’s also the iconic Lee’s Inlet Kitchen, founded in 1948 and still hand-peeling shrimp and battering them with local corn meal.
“Murrells Inlet lets you return to a time when ‘incredible view’ and ‘delicious food’ were not mutually exclusive,” Travel + Leisure said.
Read more Ready to vote for SC GOP governor, again? Early voting dates, other races & more
There’s a boardwalk called MarshWalk over the salt marsh and eight waterfront restaurants. There’s also
Garden City is also a census-designated place. Located in Horry County just north of Murrells Inlet, it had an estimated population of 11,068 residents in 2025.
Visit Myrtle Beach described Garden City as “a laid-back destination full of family-friendly fun and coastal charm.”
There’s a pier, which has fishing during the day and live music at night and nearby Gilligan’s Island Funland mini golf. It has a variety of beachfront condos and homes and is known especially to locals as a good surfing spot.
North Myrtle Beach is a city with an actual downtown and a street called Main that has shops, restaurants and bars. Its population was estimated at 21,346 in 2025.
North Myrtle is 14 miles of coast including Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, Crescent Beach, Windy Hill and Atlantic Beach.
Conde Nast called it a retro beach with a splash of high-rise hotels.
“As the epicenter of 1960s Carolina shag music and culture, here you can still dance the night away at plenty of beach music clubs, fish, or just visit the classic Cherry Grove Pier, play a round of golf at plenty of courses, and still fall asleep to the sound of waves through an open balcony door of your luxury condo or home,” the magazine said.
Alligator Adventure animal park is there and features more than alligators in swamps. Think mountain lions, bobcats and the much less fierce llamas. They have alligator feedings and lectures and demonstrations on handling snakes. They also have albino alligators.
The O.D. Pavilion Amusement Park offers fairground rides and traditional snacks.
Little River, the oldest town along the greater Grand Strand, has seafood, fishing charters and the annual blue crab festival. Generations of fishing families have called the quaint fishing village home.
It is located about 20 miles North Myrtle Beach.
It has two Las-Vegas-style casino gambling boats docked in Little River that take patrons into international waters where gambling is legal.
There are ski rentals at the waterfront and dock space and pontoon boat rentals at Crickett Cove and Coquina Harbor marinas.
Read more Lebanon warns displaced against rushing home after US-Iran deal
Population estimate in 2025 was 10,687 to 10,802.