Overall
- Chico
- 101.2
Diff +2.9 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Chico
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chico is 3% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
3% more expensive
Chico, CA is 3% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.2 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $102,994 in Chico; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 101.2 (Chico)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $102,994 purchasing power in Chico
- Services drives the gap (+67.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:CA 98.3→101.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AZ × CA
- 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
- Chico
- 105.2
Diff +8.9 RPP
Services
- Chico
- 158.8
Diff +67.4 RPP
Rents
- Chico
- 91.9
Diff -6.8 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Chico | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 101.2 | +2.9 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 105.2 | +8.9 |
| Services | 91.5 | 158.8 | +67.4 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 91.9 | -6.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Chico 101.2
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Chico 105.2
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Chico 158.8
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Chico 91.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Chico is 67.4 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chico, CA is 3% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chico 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Prescott Valley-Prescott to $102,994 in Chico, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Chico
101.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Chico for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Chico | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,497 | +$1,497 |
| $75,000 | $77,246 | +$2,246 |
| $100,000 | $102,994 | +$2,994 |
| $150,000 | $154,491 | +$4,491 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Chico
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 101.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Chico share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.6 to 2.9 RPP points. Chico remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 52.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.9 to 67.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Chico RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 99.4 | 3.6 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 103.5 | 6.9 points Chico higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 97.1 | 1.5 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 101.8 | 8.6 points Chico higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 101.2 | 2.9 points Chico 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 Chico more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Chico is 3% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 101.2 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chico equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $102,994 in Chico. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Chico?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Chico is at 91.9 (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.