The Towns In South Carolina Where Retirees Are Actually Moving To

South Carolina counted 1,120,107 Medicare beneficiaries who qualified by age in 2025, up from 941,369 in 2020. By a separate count, the state's population of 65 and older grew 21.1% between 2020 and 2025, well ahead of the 16.2% national rate. Horry County on the Grand Strand added 34,350 older residents, more than any other county. Smaller gains are landing on Lowcountry barrier islands and in a handful of inland towns.

Federal tax data put the state third, behind Florida and North Carolina, for net arrivals of households headed by someone 65 or older. State law also spares homeowners over 65 who have lived in the state at least a year from property tax on the first $50,000 of a home's market value. The statewide surge is clear, but the more interesting story is where retirees are actually settling once they arrive.

Little River, South Carolina

Little River draws older newcomers at three times the statewide rate. Five-year survey estimates put its residents 65 and older at nearly 5,000 for 2020 to 2024, up from about 3,500 for 2016 to 2020. One in ten of those older residents had moved in from outside Horry County during the previous year, against 3.5% statewide. Most were new to South Carolina entirely. The wider county shows the same pattern, with 86% of its arrivals between 2022 and 2023 coming from other states, against 57% for South Carolina counties overall. Named origins include Suffolk County in New York and Ocean County in New Jersey.

McLeod Health Seacoast runs a hospital on Highway 9 in the community. Each October, the local chamber stages the Little River ShrimpFest under the live oaks of the Historic Little River Waterfront, where boat docks line the Intracoastal Waterway.

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

North Myrtle Beach, also in Horry County, added about 2,300 residents 65 and older across the two most recent five-year estimates. The count climbed from about 6,000 to about 8,300. Almost all of the city's recent older arrivals came from other states. Measured another way, 4.9% of its older residents were new out-of-state arrivals within a year, more than double South Carolina's 2.2%.

Main Street in the Ocean Drive section is where the shag, the official state dance, still fills the floor at Fat Harold's Beach Club. Every September the Society of Stranders brings its SOS Fall Migration to Main Street for 10 days of lessons and beach music. The North Myrtle Beach Area Historical Museum opened in 2013. It keeps memorabilia from three of the beach communities that became the city: Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, and Crescent Beach.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Myrtle Beach, a city of about 38,000 in Horry County, gained around 2,000 residents 65 and older between the two survey periods. Its older population now stands near 9,100. About nine in 10 of those who arrived recently came from another state, and the out-of-state arrival rate of 5.0% is more than twice the state figure.

The former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base closed in 1993, and the city redeveloped the land as the Market Common District. It pairs a town center with Grand Park, which has a large lake and trails for walking and cycling. Warbird Park, inside the district, displays aircraft beside a Wall of Service honoring people who served or worked at the base. Medical needs can be met at Grand Strand Medical Center on 82nd Parkway. It has a Level I adult trauma designation.

Litchfield Beach, South Carolina

Litchfield Beach, an unincorporated community in Georgetown County, lies between Huntington Beach State Park and Pawleys Island. Survey estimates show about 4,400 people 65 and older there, up from around 3,700. About 5% of them had arrived from another county or state within a single year, above the statewide 3.5%. Most of those newcomers came from out of state.

Private homes, communities, and resorts control most of the beach access, though North Litchfield has the most public parking. Georgetown County's Waccamaw Bikeway passes through Litchfield between Pawleys Island and Murrells Inlet, following Highway 17 and Kings River Road across the state park. Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital in nearby Murrells Inlet keeps its emergency department open around the clock. It holds Joint Commission certification as an advanced primary stroke center, and the same building houses an inpatient rehabilitation hospital.

Pawleys Island, South Carolina

Pawleys Island, next door, has drawn summer households since the early 1700s, when rice planters moved their families there from May until the first frost. Twelve residences in the Pawleys Island Historic District date from the late 1700s to the mid-1800s, and the National Register of Historic Places lists the district. The houses follow a West Indian style adapted to the coast, raised on high brick foundations with porches on several sides to catch the breeze. The town speed limit is 25 mph, which town officials frame as a safety measure for the many people using its roads.

Survey estimates put the town at only about 170 residents, about 120 of them 65 or older. The older group about doubled from one five-year estimate to the next. Georgetown County's largest single source of new residents between 2022 and 2023 was Horry County, which supplied 21% of all arrivals.

Kiawah Island, South Carolina

Kiawah Island, a gated barrier island in Charleston County, tilts heavily toward older residents. About 1,300 of its approximate 2,300 residents are 65 or older, up from about 1,000 in the earlier estimate. Every older newcomer the latest survey picked up came from another state. Across Charleston County, the largest out-of-state source of new residents was Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.

The island incorporated as a town in 1988. Its beach runs 10 miles, and gated private accesses serve property owners and guests. Beachwalker County Park on the west end is the one public access point. Charleston County Park and Recreation runs it with a boardwalk, an accessible ramp, and seasonal lifeguards. The island's Ocean Course hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup and later held the PGA Championship twice, in 2012 and 2021.

Edisto Beach, South Carolina

Edisto Beach occupies the spot where the Edisto River finishes its 206-mile run to the Atlantic. Edisto Beach State Park has the state's longest system of accessible hiking and biking trails, including one that reaches a shell midden about 4,000 years old. South Carolina seniors pay $5 for park admission, against $8 for other adults. Botany Bay, run by the state Department of Natural Resources, lies off Highway 174 about 3 miles before the park.

Nearly half of the town's 1,100 residents are 65 or older. Their number grew from about 350 to about 530 in five years of survey data, and most of the older people who moved in recently came from other states. Colleton County looks different as a whole, with Dorchester, Charleston, and Berkeley counties as its largest named sources of new residents.

North Augusta, South Carolina

North Augusta faces Georgia across the Savannah River in Aiken County. The city picked up about 860 residents 65 and older, reaching around 4,800. Nearly 7% of its older residents were new to the county within a year, about twice the state rate. Aiken County's largest named sources of new residents were Richmond and Columbia counties, both in Georgia.

The city's signature amenity is the North Augusta Greeneway, a paved trail of more than 7 miles built on an abandoned railroad right of way. It carries the name of Thomas W. Greene, mayor from 1985 to 1997. One extension follows Crystal Creek down to the riverbank, and the latest phase opened in 2011. Riverview Park gives access near the trail's midpoint. The Greeneway also connects to Brick Pond Park, a wetland on land where workers once made bricks and pottery.

Aiken, South Carolina

Aiken, also in Aiken County, carries a 65 and older population of about 9,500, up from around 8,200 in the prior five-year estimate. In a single year, 5.4% of the city's older residents had moved in from another county or state, above the 3.5% statewide rate. More of those arrivals came from other states than from elsewhere in South Carolina.

City parks staff run the Lessie B. Price Aiken Senior & Youth Center, a shared space for older and younger residents. Hopelands Gardens, a 14-acre public garden on Dupree Place, hosts concerts on Monday nights. Each December the city turns the garden into Christmas in Hopelands, an evening event now past its 30th year. Hitchcock Woods covers about 2,100 acres of forest habitat. For medical care, residents turn to Aiken Regional Medical Centers, the city's hospital.

Lexington, South Carolina

Lexington grew its population 65 and older from 2,900 to about 4,000 across the two most recent five-year estimates. Over a single year, 8.1% of the town's older residents had arrived from another county or state, more than double the statewide rate. Slightly more of them came from elsewhere in South Carolina than from other states. Neighboring Richland County supplied 32% of Lexington County's new residents between 2022 and 2023.

The town owns the Icehouse Amphitheater downtown, a venue that grew out of a 2012 town vision plan. Lexington Health presents its free Thursday concert series. On Saturdays in season, The Market at Icehouse sets up in the pavilion on West Main Street with produce, baked goods, and local crafts. The town is now updating that vision plan with resident input.

Simpsonville, South Carolina

The city added about 840 residents 65 and older, reaching around 3,700 in the latest estimate. About 6% of those older residents moved in from another county or state within a single year, well above the 3.5% statewide rate. Most came from outside South Carolina. Greenville County leans the same way, with 61% of its arrivals between 2022 and 2023 coming from other states, just above the 57% statewide county figure. Its largest in-state sources were Spartanburg, Anderson, and Pickens counties.

Simpsonville keeps a seniors-only lounge, with pool tables and exercise equipment, inside the Simpsonville Activity & Senior Center on West Curtis Street. Some of the center's activities need advance sign-up. Heritage Park on Southeast Main Street adds miles of paved walking and biking trails, and a working miniature steam train runs there too. The CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park, a large outdoor concert venue, shares the grounds.

Tega Cay, South Carolina

Tega Cay's older population rose from 1,550 to about 2,400 between the two most recent five-year estimates. Its arrival rate ran at 6.3% over a single year, and most of those newcomers came from out of state. Mecklenburg County in North Carolina supplied about a quarter of York County's new residents between 2022 and 2023.

The city lines the shores of Lake Wylie and the Catawba River in northern York County. The city dates to 1970, when Duke Power sold 1,600 acres to a developer. Its parks department now runs 16 facilities with water access, trails, tennis courts, and a pool. Windjammer Park has a lake beach and swimming area, and the Carolina Show Ski Team stages free water-ski shows there in summer. Catawba Park opened in October 2022 with baseball and softball diamonds plus multipurpose fields.

Where the Numbers Point

South Carolina's older population is adding the most people on the Grand Strand, with smaller clusters on Lowcountry islands and in inland towns. The state's 21.1% gain since 2020 runs well ahead of the 17.5% rise recorded across the South. For these towns, the practical questions are housing supply, clinic capacity, and room in senior programs. Hilton Head Island's older count has held nearly flat, a sign that the state's retiree map keeps shifting.