Are you looking for an affordable place to live? Myrtle Beach may surprise you.

Looking for a cheaper place to live? Myrtle Beach may be your spot, according to a report by the nonprofit Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER).

The cost of housing in the area is estimated to be 32.2% less than the national average, the report, conducted during the first quarter of 2020, concluded. The organization analyzes costs of more than 50 different things such as houses, groceries, gasoline and doctor visits.

While Myrtle Beach wasn’t mentioned specifically in the official report, data compiled by C2ER show the area compares favorably to other regions.

For the cost of a four-bedroom house around 2,400 square feet, people in Myrtle Beach likely spend just below $250,000 compared with the national rate of around $362,000, the report estimates.

Apartment rentals on the Grand Strand are also more affordable compared with the rest of the country, according to the report. A two-bedroom apartment around 950 square feet would cost $814 in Myrtle Beach, but the national average for an apartment of comparable means costs $1,141, the report says.

Myrtle Beach and the Columbia area both fall far below the national average for housing cost, but the Charleston and Hilton Head Island areas dwarf national rates. Charleston apartments cost nearly $1,400 per month and houses average more than $307,000, while Hilton Head residents could fork over $1,500 per month for an apartment and more than $411,000 for a house.

Not everything in Myrtle Beach is as cheap as housing cost compared to the rest of the country, though. The rate for utilities and transportation are both more than 10% than the same resources on the national level, the report says.

The overall cost of living in Myrtle Beach is estimated to be 92.7% of the national level, putting the area on par with cities like Lincoln, Nebraska, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 10:12 AM.