Myrtle Beach composite
46.6 /100
Grade D · weighted across 7 dims
2026 data Public-data reference. 11 dimensions compared
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC vs Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA
Side-by-side comparison across cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare, and environment — sourced entirely from U.S. federal data, no crowdsourced estimates.
Myrtle Beach vs Waterloo: composite livability scores
Myrtle Beach and Waterloo differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Myrtle Beach has a cost-of-living index of 93.6 vs Waterloo's 87.1 (national average = 100). A 2-bedroom averages $1,465/mo vs $1,051/mo.
Reading the Myrtle Beach vs Waterloo Comparison
Myrtle Beach (SC) and Waterloo (IA) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline — BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators — so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 93.6 for Myrtle Beach against 87.1 for Waterloo, a 6.6-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent — the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards — is $1,465/mo in Myrtle Beach and $1,051/mo in Waterloo, a $414/mo difference that compounds to $4,968 over a year.
Wage data is reported by metro delineation, and one of these metros is missing a BLS record for the latest OES cycle; the salary columns below fall back to available years. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 439.3 per 100,000 residents in SC vs 238.5 in IA, with property-crime rates of 1988.2 and 1286.3 respectively.
Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: SC lists 1,215 public schools at a 14.3:1 student-teacher ratio, while IA lists 1,326 schools at 15.0:1 — a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $7,732/yr in the Myrtle Beach area versus $8,306/yr in Waterloo — a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Myrtle Beach and Waterloo are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" — they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.
Waterloo composite
71.5 /100
Grade B- · weighted across 7 dims
Cost-of-living gap
6.6 pts
Myrtle Beach vs Waterloo BEA RPP
2-bed rent delta
$414 /mo
Myrtle Beach priced higher
Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale
Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach composite (Grade D)
Waterloo
Waterloo composite (Grade B-)
Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.
💰 Cost of Living PlainCost →
| Category | Myrtle Beach | Waterloo |
|---|---|---|
| Overall RPP | 93.6 | 87.1 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 93.7 |
| Services | 88.0 | 83.7 |
| Rents | 83.1 | 63.1 |
Salary Equivalent Calculator
What salary in Waterloo gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Myrtle Beach?
$
Equivalent in Waterloo:
$92,968
Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Myrtle Beach: 93.6, Waterloo: 87.1, national avg = 100).
🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) PlainRent →
| Bedrooms | Myrtle Beach | Waterloo |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $1,145/mo | $725/mo |
| 1 Bedroom | $1,229/mo | $801/mo |
| 2 Bedroom | $1,465/mo | $1,051/mo |
| 3 Bedroom | $1,805/mo | $1,357/mo |
| 4 Bedroom | $2,111/mo | $1,763/mo |
🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) PlainCrime →
| Crime Type (per 100K) | Myrtle Beach (SC) | Waterloo (IA) |
|---|---|---|
| Violent Crime | 439.3 | 238.5 |
| Property Crime | 1988.2 | 1286.3 |
🎓 Schools (state-level) PlainSchools →
| Metric | SC | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Total Schools | 1,215 | 1,326 |
| Student-Teacher Ratio | 14.3:1 | 15.0:1 |
| Charter Schools | 7.2% | 0.3% |
👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) PlainChildcare →
| Age Group | SC | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Infant (Center) | $7,732/yr | $8,306/yr |
| Toddler (Center) | $7,449/yr | $7,157/yr |
| Preschool (Center) | $7,402/yr | $7,157/yr |
🌿 Environment (state-level) PlainEnviro →
| Metric | SC | IA |
|---|---|---|
| EPA Facilities | 660 | 546 |
| Water Systems | 557 | 1,077 |
| Superfund Sites | 34 | 25 |
| Water Violations | 647 | 729 |
Government-verified data — Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.
💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) PlainAir →
| Metric | Myrtle Beach | Waterloo |
|---|---|---|
| Median AQI | 40.0 | 48.0 |
| Good Air Days | 78.8% | 55.1% |
| Unhealthy Air Days | 0 days | 0 days |
💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) PlainWater →
| Metric | SC | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Water Safety Score | 45/100 | 6/100 |
| Total Violations | 38,355 | 138,271 |
| Health-Based Violations | 9,705 | 27,946 |
| Systems with Violations | 65.3% | 95.2% |
🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) PlainHealthAccess →
| Metric | SC | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Access Score | 0/100 | 0/100 |
| Population in Shortage Area | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| HPSA Designations | 264 | 448 |
HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.
⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) PlainHazard →
| Metric | SC | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Disaster Safety Score | 36/100 | 77/100 |
| NRI Risk Score (avg county) | 70.7 | 39.7 |
| Expected Annual Loss Score | 65.2 | 47.9 |
FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.
Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Myrtle Beach more expensive than Waterloo? ▼
Myrtle Beach has a cost of living index of 93.6 compared to Waterloo's 87.1 (national average = 100). Myrtle Beach is 6.6 points above Waterloo on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Myrtle Beach and Waterloo? ▼
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $1,465/mo in Myrtle Beach vs $1,051/mo in Waterloo, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $1,145/mo to $725/mo.
How do salaries compare between Myrtle Beach and Waterloo? ▼
Wage data is not available for one or both metros.
Is Myrtle Beach or Waterloo safer? ▼
At the state level, SC has a violent crime rate of 439.3 per 100,000 residents compared to IA's 238.5 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 1988.2 vs 1286.3 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Myrtle Beach and Waterloo? ▼
SC has 1,215 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 14.3:1, while IA has 1,326 schools at 15.0:1. Charter schools make up 7.2% of SC schools vs 0.3% in IA. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from? ▼
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.
Research Guides
Explore Further
Myrtle Beach Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Waterloo Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Myrtle Beach Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Waterloo Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Myrtle Beach Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
Waterloo Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
SC Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
IA Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
Relocate Myrtle Beach to Waterloo
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Relocate Waterloo to Myrtle Beach
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.
Related
Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial