Overall
- Boulder
- 105.2
Diff +6.9 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Boulder
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Boulder is 7.1% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
7.1% more expensive
Boulder, CO is 7.1% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 105.2 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $107,070 in Boulder; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 105.2 (Boulder)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $107,070 purchasing power in Boulder
- Rents drives the gap (+58.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:CO 98.3→105.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AZ × CO
- 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
- Boulder
- 96.1
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
- Boulder
- 82.7
Diff -8.7 RPP
Rents
- Boulder
- 157.0
Diff +58.2 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Boulder | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 105.2 | +6.9 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.1 | -0.2 |
| Services | 91.5 | 82.7 | -8.7 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 157.0 | +58.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Boulder 105.2
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Boulder 96.1
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Boulder 82.7
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Boulder 157.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Boulder is 58.2 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Boulder, CO is 7.1% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Boulder 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 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 $107,070 in Boulder.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Boulder
105.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Boulder for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Boulder | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,535 | +$3,535 |
| $75,000 | $80,303 | +$5,303 |
| $100,000 | $107,070 | +$7,070 |
| $150,000 | $160,606 | +$10,606 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Boulder
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 105.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Boulder share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 5.5 to 6.9 RPP points. Boulder remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (35.6 to 58.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Boulder RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 108.5 | 5.5 points Boulder higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 107.5 | 10.9 points Boulder higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 105.6 | 7.0 points Boulder higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 101.7 | 8.5 points Boulder higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 105.2 | 6.9 points Boulder 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 Boulder more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Boulder is 7.1% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 105.2 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Boulder equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $107,070 in Boulder. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Boulder?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Boulder is at 157.0 (national average = 100). Boulder 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.