Overall
- Fresno
- 102.2
Diff +3.9 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Fresno
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fresno is 4% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
4% more expensive
Fresno, CA is 4% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.2 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $103,972 in Fresno; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 102.2 (Fresno)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $103,972 purchasing power in Fresno
- Services drives the gap (+69.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:CA 98.3→102.2
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
- Fresno
- 105.2
Diff +8.9 RPP
Services
- Fresno
- 161.0
Diff +69.6 RPP
Rents
- Fresno
- 95.7
Diff -3.1 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Fresno | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 102.2 | +3.9 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 105.2 | +8.9 |
| Services | 91.5 | 161.0 | +69.6 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 95.7 | -3.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Fresno 102.2
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Fresno 105.2
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Fresno 161.0
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Fresno 95.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Fresno is 69.6 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Fresno, CA is 4% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fresno 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 $103,972 in Fresno, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Fresno
102.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Fresno for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Fresno | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,986 | +$1,986 |
| $75,000 | $77,979 | +$2,979 |
| $100,000 | $103,972 | +$3,972 |
| $150,000 | $155,958 | +$5,958 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Fresno
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 102.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Fresno share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.8 to 3.9 RPP points. Fresno remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 56.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (13.2 to 69.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Fresno RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 97.2 | 5.8 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 100.4 | 3.8 points Fresno higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 96.2 | 2.4 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 100.3 | 7.1 points Fresno higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 102.2 | 3.9 points Fresno 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 Fresno more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Fresno is 4% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 102.2 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fresno equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $103,972 in Fresno. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Fresno?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Fresno is at 95.7 (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.