7 South Carolina Beach Towns That Empty Out the Week After Labor Day

Census data up and down the Grand Strand and Lowcountry show entire blocks of houses sitting vacant much of the year.

They were built for one-week renters instead of full-time residents.

These are the South Carolina beach towns that empty out the week after Labor Day.

1. North Myrtle Beach

North Myrtle Beach counts 62.6% of its housing as vacant, according to the 2020 Census.

Those are empty houses.

The city’s beach rules follow the same pattern.

From May 15 through Labor Day, the city bans dogs from its public beaches between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day of the week.

Once the holiday passes, dogs get the beach back at any hour, clear through April 30.

2. Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach flips its own beach rulebook the day after Labor Day, every year.

All summer, the city keeps dogs and bicycles off its beach and Boardwalk during busy hours.

The day after the holiday, tents up to 12 by 12 feet become legal, and dogs and bikes get the beach and Boardwalk back at any hour.

One ordinance, one exact date.

Myrtle Beach’s own housing numbers back up the timing: 25.4% of the city’s units sit vacant, according to the 2020 Census, many of them built for a week’s worth of renters instead of year-round neighbors.

3. Surfside Beach

Surfside Beach markets itself as South Carolina’s “Family Beach,” built around the exact kind of visitor who leaves the moment school takes priority again.

The town’s own beach rules confirm it: Once Labor Day passes, dogs get unrestricted access to the sand.

Right on schedule.

Families who timed their trip around the school calendar are already gone by then, and the families who stayed for the long weekend clear out fast once the holiday ends.

4. Isle of Palms

Isle of Palms depends on a level of turnover many towns don’t attempt.

More than 58% of its housing sits vacant for the better part of the year, per the Census, built for a week’s worth of renters at a time rather than year-round neighbors.

Straight from the Census.

The free Beach Reach Shuttle, run by the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA), ferries riders to the island every summer weekend.

It makes its final trip of the season on Labor Day itself, and it won’t run again until next Memorial Day.

5. Folly Beach

Folly Beach already trims its own lifeguard coverage before Labor Day even gets here.

Charleston County Parks and Recreation cuts lifeguards at Folly Beach County Park to weekends-only by August 10, and drops its weekend parking rate from $25 to a flat $15 once September begins.

Same beach, cheaper seat.

Surf shops and restaurants along Center Street stay open, but they stop filling every table by lunchtime once the holiday passes.

6. Edisto Beach

Edisto Beach never had big crowds to lose, and that’s the point.

Of the roughly 2,200 homes on the island, the 2010 Census counted 87.2% as rental or vacation properties, not full-time residences.

That’s nearly the whole island.

Many of those homes rent by the week, with Saturday the standard change-over day along the coast.

The week after Labor Day, that week’s renters clear out, and Edisto Beach reverts to the small year-round population that lives there in every other month.

7. Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head Island is one of South Carolina’s busiest beach towns, with a year-round population of about 37,661.

The Census shows that number can swell past 150,000 people once summer vacationers fill the island.

That’s four times normal.

More than 40% of the island’s housing sits vacant, per the same Census count, built for that seasonal swell rather than year-round neighbors.

The island’s own Breeze Trolley, which runs daily from April 11 through the holiday, makes its final loop of the season the night of Labor Day and stays parked until spring.

Why the Grand Strand Keeps Fighting This Pattern

South Carolina's Grand Strand has spent two decades trying to break this exact pattern.

Stuart Butler, president of Visit Myrtle Beach, has described a two-decade shift away from a strict Memorial Day-to-Labor Day identity, one where winter traffic used to thin out so much that a local remembers lying down on the highway during rush hour without getting hit.

Tourism boards up and down the coast have spent years marketing fall festivals, golf packages, and off-season discounts squarely at the week after Labor Day, the exact stretch these towns still struggle to fill.

The numbers back it up.