Overall
Diff -4.3 RPP
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 4.2% less expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington.
4.2% less expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 4.2% less expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 102.6). A $100,000 salary in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington buys about the same as $95,808 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 102.6 (Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington ≈ $95,808 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Services drives the gap (-22.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:AZ 102.6→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × AZ
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 4.2% less expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is above 100 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Prescott Valley-Prescott 22.9 points lower than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington to $95,808 in Prescott Valley-Prescott, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington and Prescott Valley-Prescott share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.4 to 4.3 RPP points. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.0 to 14.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington RPP | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 106.4 | 103.0 | 3.4 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2012 | 103.9 | 96.5 | 7.3 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2016 | 102.5 | 98.6 | 3.9 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2020 | 102.3 | 93.2 | 9.1 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2024 | 102.6 | 98.3 | 4.3 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -0.6 RPP
Services
Diff -22.9 RPP
Rents
Diff -14.4 RPP
| Category | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.6 | 98.3 | -4.3 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 96.2 | -0.6 |
| Services | 114.4 | 91.5 | -22.9 |
| Rents | 113.1 | 98.8 | -14.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 102.6
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 96.8
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 114.4
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 113.1
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,904 | $-2,096 |
| $75,000 | $71,856 | $-3,144 |
| $100,000 | $95,808 | $-4,192 |
| $150,000 | $143,712 | $-6,288 |
$ in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.6 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
102.6
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Prescott Valley-Prescott more expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 4.2% less expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 102.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington?
A $100,000 salary in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington has the same purchasing power as $95,808 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington are indexed at 113.1 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is at 98.8 (national average = 100). Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 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.