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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-MURRELLS-INLET-SC · Murrells Inlet, SC 10,087 pop · income 57th pct · 21 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Murrells Inlet
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Murrells Inlet on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Woodfield · lowest
38,394
Woodfield · lowest
38,394 median HH income
22.6% of the leader · rank #1
Carneys Point · near
75,436
Carneys Point · near
75,436 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #2
Murrells Inlet · this city
75,438
Murrells Inlet · this city
75,438 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #3
Tenino · near
75,438
Tenino · near
75,438 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #4
Universal City · near
75,439
Universal City · near
75,439 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #5
Eton · near
75,441
Eton · near
75,441 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #6
Hillsdale · highest
169,862
Hillsdale · highest
169,862 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Murrells Inlet on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 10,087.
Murrells Inlet ranks in the 57th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
57th
percentile, household income
73rd
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Murrells Inlet, SC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 10,087 residents in Murrells Inlet, a small town within South Carolina. The typical household in Murrells Inlet brings in $75,438 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.0%. Home values in Murrells Inlet run a median of $355,800, and the median resident age is 60.4 years. 42.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 46.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in South Carolina run below the national norm: the state registers 93.7 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,155 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts South Carolina's average monthly utility costs around $224 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 70.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Murrells Inlet's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to work and mobility to within-city variation to housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Murrells Inlet, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Murrells Inlet?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 42.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
What does the journey to work look like in Murrells Inlet?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can 21 Census tracts reveal inside Murrells Inlet?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 21 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Murrells Inlet?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Woodfield (9,901 residents, $38,394 income); Little River (10,457 residents, $64,590 income); Forest Acres (10,491 residents, $76,417 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hillsdale, NJ (10,086 residents); Independence, OR (10,088 residents); Waldwick, NJ (10,090 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Murrells Inlet?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$75,438
Home value
$355,800
Value / income
4.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
B
City profile score · Murrells Inlet, SC
71/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A
2.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
42.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living B
93.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income C
$75,438
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Murrells Inlet profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 86/100 (A) · 2.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 77/100 (B+) · 42.1%
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Household income: 55/100 (C) · $75,438
How does Murrells Inlet compare to other US cities?
Where Murrells Inlet sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income57% higher than other cities
Home value73% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Murrells Inlet against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to South Carolina only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
South Carolina-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Murrells Inlet near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Murrells Inlet ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Murrells Inlet only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#84 of 403
79th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#39 of 404
90th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#389 of 439
11th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#52 of 441
88th percentile in South Carolina
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within South Carolina only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
57th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Murrells Inlet's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$355,80027th percentilemore affordable than 27% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Murrells Inlet's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,410 of 15,516
More affordable than 20% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,474 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.7×, Murrells Inlet sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,410 of 15,516 and #2,474 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$75,438Murrells Inlet, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Murrells Inlet, SC median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Murrells Inlet, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)42.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
10,087
Median Income
$75,438
Median Home Value
$355,800
Median Age
60.4
Poverty Rate
2.0%
Labor force participation
46.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
42.1%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.5%
Carpool
7.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
13.3%
Based on 4,193 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
South Carolina statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $224
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across South Carolina at $224 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are South Carolina statewide averages, not a meter reading for Murrells Inlet. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
South Carolina's BEA cost-of-living index is 93.7 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Murrells Inlet is $1,155/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to South Carolina statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.7 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a South Carolina statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Murrells Inlet sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Murrells Inlet compares to similar-size South Carolina cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.