Overall
- El Centro
- 95.2
Diff +3.1 RPP
El Centro vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 3.2% more expensive than El Centro.
3.2% more expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 3.2% more expensive than El Centro, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 95.2). A $100,000 salary in El Centro buys about the same as $103,237 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.2 (El Centro) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in El Centro ≈ $103,237 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Services drives the gap (-65.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:AZ 95.2→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- El Centro
- 105.2
Diff -8.9 RPP
Services
- El Centro
- 157.2
Diff -65.7 RPP
Rents
- El Centro
- 66.3
Diff +32.5 RPP
| Category | El Centro | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.2 | 98.3 | +3.1 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 96.2 | -8.9 |
| Services | 157.2 | 91.5 | -65.7 |
| Rents | 66.3 | 98.8 | +32.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
El Centro 95.2
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
El Centro 105.2
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
El Centro 157.2
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
El Centro 66.3
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Prescott Valley-Prescott is 65.7 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 3.2% more expensive than El Centro, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.1-point overall gap.
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.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 El Centro to $103,237 in Prescott Valley-Prescott, but it is not a personal spending weight.
El Centro
95.2
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in El Centro would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In El Centro | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,619 | +$1,619 |
| $75,000 | $77,428 | +$2,428 |
| $100,000 | $103,237 | +$3,237 |
| $150,000 | $154,856 | +$4,856 |
$ in El Centro = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.2 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
El Centro and Prescott Valley-Prescott share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 7.7 to 3.1 RPP points. Prescott Valley-Prescott remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 64.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (0.8 to 65.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | El Centro RPP | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 103.0 | 7.7 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 94.0 | 96.5 | 2.5 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2016 | 95.7 | 98.6 | 2.9 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 96.9 | 93.2 | 3.7 points El Centro higher |
| 2024 | 95.2 | 98.3 | 3.1 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Prescott Valley-Prescott more expensive than El Centro?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 3.2% more expensive than El Centro. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 95.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in El Centro?
A $100,000 salary in El Centro has the same purchasing power as $103,237 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between El Centro and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in El Centro are indexed at 66.3 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is at 98.8 (national average = 100). Prescott Valley-Prescott 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.