Overall
- Flagstaff
- 100.3
Diff -2.1 RPP
Flagstaff vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 2.1% less expensive than Flagstaff.
2.1% less expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 2.1% less expensive than Flagstaff, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 100.3). A $100,000 salary in Flagstaff buys about the same as $97,937 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 100.3 (Flagstaff) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in Flagstaff ≈ $97,937 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Rents drives the gap (-10.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:AZ 100.3→98.3
TIER-NEAR · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- SAME-STATE Same state · AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Flagstaff
- 96.2
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Flagstaff
- 93.8
Diff -2.4 RPP
Rents
- Flagstaff
- 109.0
Diff -10.2 RPP
| Category | Flagstaff | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.3 | 98.3 | -2.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 | 0.0 |
| Services | 93.8 | 91.5 | -2.4 |
| Rents | 109.0 | 98.8 | -10.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Flagstaff 100.3
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
Flagstaff 96.2
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
Flagstaff 93.8
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
Flagstaff 109.0
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Prescott Valley-Prescott is 10.2 points lower. But 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 2.1% less expensive than Flagstaff, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.1-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Flagstaff is above 100 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Flagstaff corresponds to $97,937 in Prescott Valley-Prescott.
Flagstaff
100.3
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Flagstaff would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In Flagstaff | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,968 | $-1,032 |
| $75,000 | $73,453 | $-1,547 |
| $100,000 | $97,937 | $-2,063 |
| $150,000 | $146,905 | $-3,095 |
$ in Flagstaff = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.3 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Flagstaff and Prescott Valley-Prescott share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.2 to 2.1 RPP points. Flagstaff remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 26.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (15.8 to 10.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Flagstaff RPP | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.8 | 103.0 | 3.2 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 96.5 | 2.7 points Flagstaff higher |
| 2016 | 97.7 | 98.6 | 0.9 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 97.0 | 93.2 | 3.9 points Flagstaff higher |
| 2024 | 100.3 | 98.3 | 2.1 points Flagstaff 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 Flagstaff?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 2.1% less expensive than Flagstaff. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 100.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in Flagstaff?
A $100,000 salary in Flagstaff has the same purchasing power as $97,937 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Flagstaff and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in Flagstaff are indexed at 109.0 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is at 98.8 (national average = 100). Flagstaff 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.