With a crime rate of 69 per one thousand residents, Myrtle Beach has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 15. Within South Carolina, more than 96% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Myrtle Beach. In fact, after researching dangerous places to live, NeighborhoodScout found Myrtle Beach to be one of the top 100 most dangerous cities in the U.S.A.

Separately, it is always interesting and important to compare a city's crime rate with those of similarly sized communities - a fair comparison as larger cities tend to have more crime. NeighborhoodScout has done just that. With a population of 39,697, Myrtle Beach has a combined rate of violent and property crime that is very high compared to other places of similar population size. Regardless of whether Myrtle Beach does well or poorly compared to all other cities and towns in the US of all sizes, compared to places with a similar population, it fares badly. Few other communities of this size have a crime rate as high as Myrtle Beach.

Now let us turn to take a look at how Myrtle Beach does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Myrtle Beach.

For Myrtle Beach, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Myrtle Beach is one in 100.

In addition, NeighborhoodScout found that a lot of the crime that takes place in Myrtle Beach is property crime. Property crimes that are tracked for this analysis are burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, motor vehicle theft, and arson. In Myrtle Beach, your chance of becoming a victim of a property crime is one in 17, which is a rate of 59 per one thousand population.

Importantly, we found that Myrtle Beach has one of the highest rates of motor vehicle theft in the nation according to our analysis of FBI crime data. This is compared to communities of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest. In fact, your chance of getting your car stolen if you live in Myrtle Beach is one in 204.