The City of Myrtle Beach is a residential and vacation community at the heart of South Carolina’s Grand Strand coast. Our 35,000-plus permanent residents and millions of visitors enjoy wide beaches, warm weather and an incredible range of entertainment and activities. Myrtle Beach was incorporated in 1938 and became a city in 1957, when the permanent population first topped 5,000. The name “Myrtle Beach” comes from the wax myrtle, an abundant local shrub, and was chosen in a name-the-town contest in 1900.