Original Research by School Decision on North Myrtle Beach High
North Myrtle Beach High School serves roughly one thousand six hundred students in grades nine through twelve and is a regular public high school within Horry County Schools, located just outside Little River. The school sits on Sea Mountain Highway in an area that is largely residential, with housing developments, marshes, and pine forests bordering the Waccamaw River and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Little River itself is an unincorporated census-designated place, a historic fishing village that has seen steady growth, with a high rate of owner-occupied homes.
The student body is majority white, making up over half the enrollment. Students who identify as Black or African American account for a substantial share, and Hispanic students also form a material presence, with smaller shares of students who are Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or of two or more races. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that positions the school where many families are working to middle income. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in our source, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those populations and the supports offered.
No state assessment results or a graduation rate were available for this school in the data we drew from. Because this is a regular high school serving grades nine through twelve, those are metrics one would normally expect to see, and their absence is a notable gap. A parent or resident should look for this information from the South Carolina Department of Education or the school itself to understand academic performance, since the typical state testing and graduation data is not represented here. Without that evidence, it is not possible to characterize the school’s proficiency levels, academic trends, or how many students graduate within four years.
The housing market in the area reflects a moderately priced coastal region. Home values sit just above the state average and slightly below the national average, and rents have increased a small amount over the past year. For context, a typical monthly mortgage payment in the area is less than a typical rent, which could be a factor for families considering a move. The national unemployment rate is moderate, and median household income has risen over recent years, though these are broader economic signals rather than data specific to the school’s families.
The school is part of Horry County Schools, and within Horry County it is the only entity available for comparison at the district level, so no meaningful performance comparison with neighboring districts could be made from this data. The district itself did not have any recent parent-relevant changes, such as boundary adjustments or major program shifts, that were publicly reported.
Little River is car-dependent, with major highways threading through the area, and lacks a formal downtown core. Schools and civic functions sit on separate campuses. The local economy leans on tourism, hospitality, charter fishing, and a casino boat, with a library branch serving as a civic anchor. For families considering the area, the character is more suburban and coastal than urban, and the community is growing.
Given the absence of core academic metrics, the picture of North Myrtle Beach High is incomplete. A family would want to follow up directly on test results and graduation rates to form a full understanding of the academic pathway and student outcomes here.
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