Moving to
Garden City.

All Garden City data Compare Garden City

11,591people live here $47,249median household income▼ 41% below US $1,472median rent per monthNear US average $217,400median home value▼ 35% below US

Garden City is an unincorporated community in Horry County, SC. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Garden City

Garden City is an unincorporated community in South Carolina with home prices that remain within reach, commutes that run shorter than most cities, and schools with smaller class sizes than the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Garden City deals with household incomes below the national average, above-average rainfall, fewer dining and entertainment options than a bigger city, and a car-dependent commute, with few people using transit.

The good

Affordable home prices
Short commutes
Low student-teacher ratio

The not so good

Below-average household incomes
Above-average rainfall
Smaller place — fewer dining and entertainment options
Car-dependent — few commuters use transit

How Garden City compares

Median household income

Garden City$47,249

South Carolina avg$69,324

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Garden City$1,472

South Carolina avg$1,180

US$1,413

Median home value

Garden City$217,400

South Carolina avg$259,000

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Garden City

Based on Garden City's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$2,944

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $58,880 a year
31% of Garden City renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$43,480

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $21,740
Homes cost 4.6× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of livingNear US average

$1,472/mo median rent

Rent is pretty middle of the road, at $1,472 a month median. Not a bargain, not a budget-buster. About typical for a city this size. Home prices here are genuinely accessible, with a median around $217,400. That kind of affordability is rare in today's market.

Median home value $217,400 · 31% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

5.2% county unemployment

Unemployment in Horry County is 5.2%, somewhat above the national average of 4.3%. Lining up work before the move is the safer route. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Horry County (county-wide)

Safety

254 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Garden City doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Horry County Police Department jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 1219/100k · Policed by Horry County Police Department (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting around▼ 15% below US

22 min average commute

Commutes are reasonable, averaging 22 minutes. Nothing heroic, and there's still time left over for a life after work. 9 in 10 workers drive to work; 13% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

81%

Work from home

13%

Carpool

4.8%

Other

1.2%

Walk

0.2%

Climate

Summers are warm, with highs around 87°F, and winters are chilly but manageable, with lows around 38°F. It's a wet climate overall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 38% below US

22% bachelor's degree or higher

College degree attainment runs below average at 22%. That tends to reflect a more trade and working-class economy, which can be great or limiting depending on the industry.

Schools

1 public school inside the boundary

There is 1 public school inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 13:1, well below the national average of 16:1. Smaller class sizes are generally a positive sign for a district.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Charles Pinckney National Historic Site (70 miles away). There are 3 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Garden City's strongest points are home prices that remain within reach and commutes that run shorter than most cities; the main tradeoffs are household incomes below the national average and above-average rainfall. A year of median rent ($1,472/mo) equals 37% of the median household income here, more than the 21% typical nationwide. Whether it fits comes down to the specifics: the neighborhood, the job, and what matters most in the move.

See all the data for Garden City →·All South Carolina cities →