Overall
- Birmingham
- 91.6
Diff -6.6 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Birmingham
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Birmingham is 6.7% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
6.7% less expensive
Birmingham, AL is 6.7% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.6 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $93,272 in Birmingham; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 91.6 (Birmingham)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $93,272 purchasing power in Birmingham
- Rents drives the gap (-26.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:AL 98.3→91.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AZ × AL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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
- Birmingham
- 96.4
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Birmingham
- 83.8
Diff -7.7 RPP
Rents
- Birmingham
- 71.9
Diff -26.9 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Birmingham | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 91.6 | -6.6 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.4 | +0.2 |
| Services | 91.5 | 83.8 | -7.7 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 71.9 | -26.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Birmingham 91.6
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Birmingham 96.4
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Birmingham 83.8
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Birmingham 71.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Birmingham is 26.9 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Birmingham, AL is 6.7% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.6-point overall gap.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 Prescott Valley-Prescott corresponds to $93,272 in Birmingham.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Birmingham
91.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Birmingham for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Birmingham | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,636 | $-3,364 |
| $75,000 | $69,954 | $-5,046 |
| $100,000 | $93,272 | $-6,728 |
| $150,000 | $139,907 | $-10,093 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Birmingham
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 91.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Birmingham share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 10.3 to 6.6 RPP points. Prescott Valley-Prescott remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 13.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.9 to 7.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Birmingham RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 92.7 | 10.3 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 93.7 | 2.9 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 94.1 | 4.6 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 91.4 | 1.8 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 91.6 | 6.6 points Prescott Valley-Prescott 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 Birmingham more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Birmingham is 6.7% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 91.6 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Birmingham equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $93,272 in Birmingham. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Birmingham?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Birmingham is at 71.9 (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.