Overall
- Portland-South Portland
- 101.9
Diff -3.6 RPP
Portland-South Portland vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 3.5% less expensive than Portland-South Portland.
3.5% less expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 3.5% less expensive than Portland-South Portland, ME on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 101.9). A $100,000 salary in Portland-South Portland buys about the same as $96,463 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 101.9 (Portland-South Portland) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in Portland-South Portland ≈ $96,463 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Services drives the gap (-43.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ME:AZ 101.9→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE ME × 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 3.5% less expensive than Portland-South Portland, ME, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.6-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Portland-South Portland 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 43.1 points lower than Portland-South Portland. 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 Portland-South Portland to $96,463 in Prescott Valley-Prescott, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -0.9 RPP
Services
- Portland-South Portland
- 134.6
Diff -43.1 RPP
Rents
- Portland-South Portland
- 105.2
Diff -6.4 RPP
| Category | Portland-South Portland | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.9 | 98.3 | -3.6 |
| Goods | 97.2 | 96.2 | -0.9 |
| Services | 134.6 | 91.5 | -43.1 |
| Rents | 105.2 | 98.8 | -6.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Portland-South Portland 101.9
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
Portland-South Portland 97.2
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
Portland-South Portland 134.6
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
Portland-South Portland 105.2
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Portland-South Portland would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In Portland-South Portland | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,231 | $-1,769 |
| $75,000 | $72,347 | $-2,653 |
| $100,000 | $96,463 | $-3,537 |
| $150,000 | $144,694 | $-5,306 |
$ in Portland-South Portland = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.9 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Portland-South Portland
101.9
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Prescott Valley-Prescott more expensive than Portland-South Portland?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 3.5% less expensive than Portland-South Portland. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 101.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in Portland-South Portland?
A $100,000 salary in Portland-South Portland has the same purchasing power as $96,463 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Portland-South Portland and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in Portland-South Portland are indexed at 105.2 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is at 98.8 (national average = 100). Portland-South Portland 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.