Overall
- Medford
- 101.4
Diff -3.2 RPP
Medford vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 3.1% less expensive than Medford.
3.1% less expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 3.1% less expensive than Medford, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 101.4). A $100,000 salary in Medford buys about the same as $96,867 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 101.4 (Medford) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in Medford ≈ $96,867 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Services drives the gap (-10.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:AZ 101.4→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE OR × AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
- Medford
- 105.3
Diff -9.0 RPP
Services
- Medford
- 102.3
Diff -10.8 RPP
Rents
- Medford
- 97.7
Diff +1.1 RPP
| Category | Medford | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.4 | 98.3 | -3.2 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 96.2 | -9.0 |
| Services | 102.3 | 91.5 | -10.8 |
| Rents | 97.7 | 98.8 | +1.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Medford 101.4
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
Medford 105.3
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
Medford 102.3
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
Medford 97.7
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 10.8 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 3.1% less expensive than Medford, OR, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Medford 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Medford to $96,867 in Prescott Valley-Prescott, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Medford
101.4
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Medford would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In Medford | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,433 | $-1,567 |
| $75,000 | $72,650 | $-2,350 |
| $100,000 | $96,867 | $-3,133 |
| $150,000 | $145,300 | $-4,700 |
$ in Medford = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.4 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Prescott Valley-Prescott more expensive than Medford?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 3.1% less expensive than Medford. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 101.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in Medford?
A $100,000 salary in Medford has the same purchasing power as $96,867 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Medford and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in Medford are indexed at 97.7 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.