A common question is whether you can retire near the ocean on modest money. South Carolina taxes lightly, the Grand Strand stays warm, and $2,500 a month, which is roughly the average Social Security check plus a small supplement, feels like it ought to stretch pretty far. The real question is whether the math actually holds once you price in coastal reality. It can, but only under specific choices, and the trap most planners overlook involves coastal insurance costs rather than everyday expenses.
What $2,500 a Month Actually Buys in Myrtle Beach
Start with housing, because that really decides everything else. A one-bedroom rental in Myrtle Beach averages around $1,384 to $1,395 a month, and the broader market rent sits near $1,629. Buying only makes sense if the place is already paid off. The median list price in the area runs about $269,000 to $325,000, and financing that today would blow the budget out of the water. A paid-off condo or manufactured home inside the city drops shelter costs down to taxes, insurance, HOA, and upkeep.
Now for taxes, Horry County assesses owner-occupied primary residences at a 4% ratio rather than 6%, which materially lowers the bill for anyone who files the legal residence application. A $250,000 primary home typically lands between $1,000 and $1,600 a year in property tax. Coastal homeowners policies in the Myrtle Beach area commonly run $1,800 to $6,500 or more, and that is before you even look at separate wind and flood coverage.
Everything else becomes manageable once housing is settled. Groceries for one person on a moderate USDA-style plan run about $350 to $450 a month. Electricity, water, and internet together sit near $250 in a small home, and that creeps higher in summer. At a $4.05 national average, a retiree driving 8,000 miles a year in a paid-off sedan should budget $150 to $200 monthly for fuel, plus another $100 for insurance and registration.
Healthcare for a 65-plus retiree on Medicare begins with the $202.90 standard Part B premium in 2026, a Medigap or Advantage plan running $30 to $180, a Part D drug plan, and out-of-pocket costs against the $283 Part B deductible and the $1,736 Part A hospital deductible. A realistic all-in monthly figure is $400 to $550. For someone retiring before 65, the ACA marketplace bridge replaces this line, and it is almost always the deal-breaker under this budget unless subsidies bring the premium near zero.
Turning the Budget Into a Portfolio Target
Annualized, $2,500 a month is $30,000 a year. The average Social Security retirement benefit in mid-2026 is about $2,083 a month, or roughly $25,000 a year, leaving a $5,000 gap. Applied to a 4% withdrawal rate, that gap requires a portfolio of about $125,000. The 2027 COLA tracking near 3.1% helps, but the CPI move from 323.048 in July 2025 to 333.918 in July 2026 shows why reserves matter.
Two things flatter the math in South Carolina. The state does not tax Social Security benefits, and at age 65 a retiree can deduct up to $10,000 of qualified retirement income plus a $15,000 age deduction (reduced by retirement income already claimed), which erases most state income tax at this budget level. The state cost-of-living index of 93.749 against a national 100 confirms the general tailwind.
For a retiree stopping work before Social Security starts, the arithmetic tightens. Funding the whole $30,000 at a 3.5% early-retirement withdrawal rate points to roughly $860,000, with a bridge built from a treasury ladder and dividend index funds in a taxable account so ACA subsidies stay intact.
Coastal Carrying Cost Most Retirees Underprice
The number that quietly breaks this scenario is the combined insurance stack on a coastal home. Standard homeowners insurance in Myrtle Beach frequently carries a separate wind and hail deductible written as a percentage of dwelling value, often 2% to 5%, which, on a $250,000 home, means $5,000 to $12,500 out of pocket before wind coverage engages. Flood insurance through the NFIP or a private carrier is a separate policy, and premiums in a coastal AE or VE zone can run $1,200 to $3,500 a year. Wind, flood, and standard hazards together can reach $6,000 to $9,000 annually. That single line item consumes 20% to 30% of a $30,000 budget.
The workaround for this cost is structural. Retirees who make this work either live inland toward Conway or Aynor, where wind and flood exposure drops and premiums fall by half, or they rent and let a landlord absorb coastal insurance risk, or they own a small condo where the master HOA policy covers wind and structure and the individual HO-6 policy is narrow. Each choice determines whether $2,500 a month works.
What the Number Actually Needs to Be
For a 65-year-old collecting an average Social Security check, retiring in Myrtle Beach on $2,500 a month is achievable with roughly $125,000 to $200,000 invested, split between a short treasury ladder for the first five years of gap funding and a broad equity index for the rest, drawn at 4% (the same withdrawal figure we questioned at length in a free guide on why the 4% rule wobbles today), provided housing is either a paid-off inland home or an insured condo.
For a couple with two Social Security checks averaging around $3,500 combined, the same budget clears with almost no portfolio, and the surplus should fund an insurance reserve. For an early retiree at 55 or 60 with no Social Security yet, the target rises to roughly $800,000 to $900,000 at a 3.5% withdrawal rate, and the ACA bridge must be engineered before the move. The scenario works inland or in a condo with shared coastal insurance coverage, though a standalone single-family home in a hurricane zone strains the budget.
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