Retiring in Conway, South Carolina

Retiring in Conway: overview

Conway is in Horry, South Carolina, within the Grand Strand & Myrtle Beach region.

Conway is the historic river town of Horry County. The City of Conway says the town site was marked out in 1732 as Kingston, that settlers began arriving by 1735, that the name was shortened to Conway by the General Assembly in 1883, that the railroad arrived in 1887 and that the town incorporated in 1898. The city adds that much of present-day downtown was built in the early 1900s after a destructive fire, and that the old live oaks and the Waccamaw River give downtown its setting as a South Carolina Historic River Town.

For a retiree, the practical draw is different from the beach towns that surround it. Conway is where the county's principal hospital sits: Conway Medical Center is at 300 Singleton Ridge Road and reports 222 inpatient beds. It is also where the county's administrative offices are, including the Horry County Auditor at 1301 Second Avenue. The price of that convenience is a younger, lower-income and more working-age population than the coast. Conway Medical Center's 2025 community health needs assessment counts 26,082 residents in the city, with a median age of 34.3, a median household income of $54,841 and a poverty rate of 20.3 percent, against a median age of 60.8 in North Myrtle Beach and 47 in Myrtle Beach.

The assessment also reports figures for the wider Conway census county division, which has 51,181 residents, a median age of 43.7, a median household income of $58,545 and a poverty rate of 15.4 percent. The city's own finance page describes serving more than 17,000 citizens, 15,000 utility customers and 270 city employees; population figures differ by source and boundary, so ask what a given address is counted in before relying on any single number.

Cost of living in Conway

Conway's published income figures sit below the Grand Strand resort cities that neighbor it. The 2025 health assessment gives the city a median household income of $54,841 and a 20.3 percent poverty rate, a daily commute figure of 22.4, and a population that is 61 percent White and 29 percent Black in the American Community Survey data it uses. The report describes Conway and Carolina Forest as younger than the coastal enclaves, with implications for maternal and child health and primary-care access rather than senior services alone.

Recurring public charges matter as much as home price. The 2025 county schedule lists a $50 per-vehicle road maintenance fee for Horry County, and the City of Conway runs its own utility system: its finance department bills about 15,000 utility customers, and the city's fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30. Ask the city for a recent utility bill for any address you consider, because water, sewer and solid-waste charges vary with the household.

Because Conway is the county seat, daily services are concentrated here. The city's website lists departments for fire, police, public works, solid waste, utilities, parks and recreation and planning and development, and the county auditor's main office and its homestead-exemption line are both at 1301 Second Avenue in Conway, at (843) 915-5050 and (843) 915-5051.

Property taxes in Conway

Property tax inside the city has three main layers. In the South Carolina Association of Counties' 2025 rate report, the City of Conway levies 0.0981. Millage appears in that report as a decimal of assessed value; for example, 0.0521 equals 52.1 mills, or $52.10 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value. Horry County's countywide millage totals 0.0521 (county operations 0.0439, capital planning 0.0037, recreation 0.0019, higher education 0.0006, Horry-Georgetown Technical College 0.0016 and senior citizens fund 0.0004), and Horry County Schools levy 0.1091 operating plus 0.0100 for debt service. One county mill was worth about $3,890,000 in 2025. The same report shows that Conway's city levy is higher than those of Myrtle Beach (0.0834) and North Myrtle Beach (0.0450).

The assessment rules can matter more than the rate. The state counties association notes that owner-occupied property qualifying for the 4 percent legal-residence ratio is exempt from school operating taxes except for mills imposed for school debt, and the Department of Revenue tells owners to apply for the 4 percent ratio through the county assessor. Horry County's flyer says the reassessment took effect as of December 31, 2023, replacing December 31, 2018, that state law requires reassessment every four years with implementation in the fifth, that existing property has a 15 percent cap on the increase in taxable value over five years unless it was purchased in the current year, and that millage is rolled back after reassessment.

For owners over 65, the Department of Revenue describes a homestead exemption on the first $50,000 of fair market value of a legal residence, and says the General Assembly temporarily raised it to $75,000 for tax year 2026 only. The Horry County Auditor administers the application. Amounts and rates change every budget year, so confirm current figures with the county. The South Carolina retirement tax guide covers state income tax and the wider relief picture.

Insurance and risk in Conway

Conway is inland of the coastal zones, but it is not free of water risk. Horry County's zone descriptions place Zone A along the oceanfront and Zone B east of Highway 17 from Little River to Atlantic Beach, and describe Zone C as the areas between Highway 701 and Highway 544 with some fluctuations. SCEMD's 2026 plan adds that in Georgetown County Zone B includes all low-lying areas along and east of the Waccamaw River, the river that runs past Conway's downtown. The county also advises that anyone in flood-prone areas along waterways, and anyone in a mobile home, should consider evacuating even outside a designated zone.

Horry County's flood resources page lists NOAA's real-time river gauge observations, a flood-hazard map application, elevation certificates and the National Flood Insurance Program, and links to the Waccamaw Riverkeeper program at Coastal Carolina University. Before an offer, look up the parcel's flood zone, ask for an elevation certificate where one exists and get written quotes for flood and wind coverage. The coastal hurricane and flood insurance guide explains the mechanics.

Conway's role in evacuation is also practical. Horry County's evacuation page routes evacuees from the Myrtle Beach area south of 10th Avenue North and north of the airport along US 501 to Conway, then US 378 to Columbia or US 501 on to Marion, and says lane reversal may be used on US 501 from SC 544 to SC 378 and from SC 22 to the US 501/576 split in Marion. SCEMD's 2026 plan lists lane reversal on US 501 east of Conway from SC 544 to the US 501/US 378 intersection. The county warns that once a driver enters a reversal pattern there is no getting out of it. For a resident, that means the roads around Conway carry the heaviest evacuation traffic in the county even when the address itself is outside a zone.

Healthcare access in Conway

Healthcare is Conway's strongest argument. Conway Medical Center says it has 222 inpatient beds, almost 2,000 staff and about 200 physicians across 30 specialties, at 300 Singleton Ridge Road, and that in August 2023 it formed a strategic relationship with Novant Health while remaining an independent nonprofit with local governance. Its website describes 50-plus specialties across Horry County and beyond and lists Conway among the regions in its Find Care Near You directory, with practices and services that include CMC Physical Therapy at the Conway Sports and Fitness Center and a specialty pharmacy. The City of Conway's website links directly to the hospital from its residents menu.

The 2025 assessment describes capacity expansion in the county: a free-standing emergency department at the Health Plaza South campus in Socastee that was anticipated to open in late 2026, and a second free-standing emergency department planned for the intersection of Highway 90 and Highway 22, expected to operate around the clock and to serve about 17,000 patients a year as the first phase of a multi-stage campus. The report says the county's primary-care ratio was about 1,870 residents per physician in 2023 against about 2,030 statewide, about 12 percent of residents were uninsured, and the 65-plus population is projected to grow about 20 percent between 2023 and 2028. McLeod Health also lists McLeod Health Seacoast and McLeod Health Carolina Forest among its locations. The healthcare access guide explains how to check plan networks before you move.

Climate in Conway

Conway shares the Atlantic hurricane season, which Georgetown County and Horry County both describe as running from June 1 to November 30. Horry County's hurricane annex says residents generally get several days of warning but that systems can intensify fast, citing Hurricane Gaston in 2004, which grew from a tropical depression to a hurricane in 48 hours about 140 miles off the coast. The county plans to complete coastal evacuation before tropical-storm-force winds arrive, so travel decisions can come days before landfall.

For an inland river town, the hazard that belongs to Conway in particular is high water on the Waccamaw and its low-lying surroundings after heavy rain, which is why the county's flood page points residents to river-gauge data rather than only to storm-surge zones. Keep a plan for power loss and road closures, and confirm your address's flood history with the county before buying.

Lifestyle and recreation in Conway

Conway's lifestyle is small-city and river-oriented. The city's Parks and Recreation Department manages city parks, the Conway Sports and Fitness Center, street festivals, programs and athletics, and has published a 2025 parks and recreation master plan. It also publishes a Waccamaw River Blue Trail guide for paddlers and the city's website lists Conway Downtown Alive and the Celebration of Lights among its community programs.

Transit is available through CoastRTA, which the city's visitors menu links to, and the city maintains a visitor center listing. The beach is a drive away rather than a walk: Conway gives up the oceanfront but keeps the county's hospital, county offices and a walkable historic downtown. Buyers who want golf-course living or beach access will find those nearer the coast, in places such as Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach.

Housing in Conway

The city's housing stock ranges from historic downtown homes built around the early 1900s rebuilding to newer subdivisions on the edge of town, and the choice of address decides which tax bill applies. A parcel inside the city limits pays the 0.0981 city levy; a parcel just outside falls under unincorporated Horry County, where the 2025 schedule adds a county fire district levy of 0.0202, a fire apparatus replacement levy of 0.0015, a solid waste program levy of 0.0081 and, for single-family residences, an $89 stormwater fee.

SCEMD's 2023 five-year estimate counts 3,256 mobile homes in Horry Zone A, 2,126 in Zone B and 4,903 in Zone C, which is a reminder that manufactured housing is a significant part of the county's stock and carries its own insurance and evacuation considerations. For any purchase, ask the seller for the current tax bill, confirm the parcel's jurisdiction and tax district with the county auditor, and request an elevation certificate and flood-zone determination.

Comparisons with Conway

• Conway vs Carolina Forest: Historic River Town or Large Unincorporated Suburb

Places near Conway

• Myrtle BeachSouth Carolina's largest Grand Strand city, in Horry County, with the region's commercial airport, a mid-sized resident population, a city millage of 0.0834 and an oceanfront that falls in the county's Zone A and B evacuation areas.
• North Myrtle BeachA Horry County coastal city at the northern end of the Grand Strand with an older population, a 0.0450 city tax rate, a SC 9 evacuation route and a Del Webb 55-plus community.
• Carolina ForestA large unincorporated, census-designated community in Horry County with a median age of 37.6, county-level taxes and fees, a county recreation center that doubles as an emergency shelter and a named McLeod Health location.
• Little RiverThe northernmost Grand Strand community on the Intracoastal Waterway, an older-skewing census-designated place (median age 61.8) served by county recreation centers, a county auditor branch office and Conway Medical Center's Little River practice.

Guides relevant to Conway

• Healthcare Access Across the Carolinas: Hospitals, Trauma Centers and Medicare
• Hurricane, Flood and Wind Insurance on the Carolina Coast: What Retirees Should Know
• South Carolina Retirement Taxes: Income, Property, Vehicle and Sales Tax