Overall
Diff -7.2 RPP
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 6.8% less expensive than Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro.
6.8% less expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 6.8% less expensive than Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 105.4). A $100,000 salary in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro buys about the same as $93,202 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 105.4 (Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro ≈ $93,202 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Rents drives the gap (-26.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:AZ 105.4→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE OR × AZ
- RENT-LED Rent-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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,601 | $-3,399 |
| $75,000 | $69,902 | $-5,098 |
| $100,000 | $93,202 | $-6,798 |
| $150,000 | $139,804 | $-10,196 |
$ in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (105.4 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 6.8% less expensive than Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro is above 100 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Prescott Valley-Prescott 26.3 points lower than Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro. 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 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 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro corresponds to $93,202 in Prescott Valley-Prescott.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -9.0 RPP
Services
Diff -15.5 RPP
Rents
Diff -26.3 RPP
| Category | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 105.4 | 98.3 | -7.2 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 96.2 | -9.0 |
| Services | 107.0 | 91.5 | -15.5 |
| Rents | 125.1 | 98.8 | -26.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 105.4
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 105.2
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 107.0
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 125.1
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
105.4
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro and Prescott Valley-Prescott share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 4.3 to 7.2 RPP points. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 23.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.4 to 26.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro RPP | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.7 | 103.0 | 4.3 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 104.3 | 96.5 | 7.8 points Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro higher |
| 2016 | 101.5 | 98.6 | 2.9 points Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro higher |
| 2020 | 105.8 | 93.2 | 12.6 points Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro higher |
| 2024 | 105.4 | 98.3 | 7.2 points Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 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 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 6.8% less expensive than Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 105.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro?
A $100,000 salary in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro has the same purchasing power as $93,202 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro are indexed at 125.1 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is at 98.8 (national average = 100). Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 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.