Overall
- Ithaca
- 103.3
Diff +5.1 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Ithaca
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Ithaca is 5.2% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
5.2% more expensive
Ithaca, NY is 5.2% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.3 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $105,152 in Ithaca; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 103.3 (Ithaca)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $105,152 purchasing power in Ithaca
- Services drives the gap (+40.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:NY 98.3→103.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AZ × NY
- SERVICES-LED Services-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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Ithaca, NY is 5.2% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.1-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Ithaca is above 100 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Ithaca 40.2 points higher than Prescott Valley-Prescott. 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 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 $105,152 in Ithaca, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Ithaca share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.8 to 5.1 RPP points. Ithaca remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 49.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (19.5 to 29.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Ithaca RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 100.2 | 2.8 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 101.9 | 5.3 points Ithaca higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 102.0 | 3.4 points Ithaca higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 101.3 | 8.2 points Ithaca higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 103.3 | 5.1 points Ithaca 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Ithaca
- 99.7
Diff +3.5 RPP
Services
- Ithaca
- 131.6
Diff +40.2 RPP
Rents
- Ithaca
- 128.4
Diff +29.6 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Ithaca | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 103.3 | +5.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 99.7 | +3.5 |
| Services | 91.5 | 131.6 | +40.2 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 128.4 | +29.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Ithaca 103.3
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Ithaca 99.7
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Ithaca 131.6
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Ithaca 128.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Ithaca for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Ithaca | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,576 | +$2,576 |
| $75,000 | $78,864 | +$3,864 |
| $100,000 | $105,152 | +$5,152 |
| $150,000 | $157,728 | +$7,728 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Ithaca
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 103.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Ithaca
103.3
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ithaca more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Ithaca is 5.2% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 103.3 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Ithaca equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $105,152 in Ithaca. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Ithaca?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Ithaca is at 128.4 (national average = 100). Ithaca 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.