Overall
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 97.6
Diff +0.7 RPP
Durham-Chapel Hill vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 0.7% more expensive than Durham-Chapel Hill.
0.7% more expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 0.7% more expensive than Durham-Chapel Hill, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 97.6). A $100,000 salary in Durham-Chapel Hill buys about the same as $100,700 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.6 (Durham-Chapel Hill) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in Durham-Chapel Hill ≈ $100,700 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Services drives the gap (+2.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:AZ 97.6→98.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NC × AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.
Durham-Chapel Hill
97.6
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC and Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.7 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Prescott Valley-Prescott is 2.1 points higher. But goods and rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Durham-Chapel Hill to $100,700 in Prescott Valley-Prescott, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 96.6
Diff -0.4 RPP
Services
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 89.3
Diff +2.1 RPP
Rents
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 98.9
Diff -0.2 RPP
| Category | Durham-Chapel Hill | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.6 | 98.3 | +0.7 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 96.2 | -0.4 |
| Services | 89.3 | 91.5 | +2.1 |
| Rents | 98.9 | 98.8 | -0.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Durham-Chapel Hill 97.6
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
Durham-Chapel Hill 96.6
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
Durham-Chapel Hill 89.3
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
Durham-Chapel Hill 98.9
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Durham-Chapel Hill would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In Durham-Chapel Hill | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,350 | +$350 |
| $75,000 | $75,525 | +$525 |
| $100,000 | $100,700 | +$700 |
| $150,000 | $151,050 | +$1,050 |
$ in Durham-Chapel Hill = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.6 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Prescott Valley-Prescott more expensive than Durham-Chapel Hill?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 0.7% more expensive than Durham-Chapel Hill. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 97.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in Durham-Chapel Hill?
A $100,000 salary in Durham-Chapel Hill has the same purchasing power as $100,700 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Durham-Chapel Hill and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in Durham-Chapel Hill are indexed at 98.9 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is at 98.8 (national average = 100). Durham-Chapel Hill has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.