Overall
- Johnstown
- 85.9
Diff -12.3 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Johnstown
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Johnstown is 12.5% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
12.5% less expensive
Johnstown, PA is 12.5% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $87,455 in Johnstown; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 85.9 (Johnstown)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $87,455 purchasing power in Johnstown
- Rents drives the gap (-56.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:PA 98.3→85.9
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE AZ × PA
- 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
- Johnstown
- 100.7
Diff +4.4 RPP
Services
- Johnstown
- 108.9
Diff +17.4 RPP
Rents
- Johnstown
- 42.3
Diff -56.4 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Johnstown | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 85.9 | -12.3 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 100.7 | +4.4 |
| Services | 91.5 | 108.9 | +17.4 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 42.3 | -56.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Johnstown 85.9
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Johnstown 100.7
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Johnstown 108.9
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Johnstown 42.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Johnstown is 56.4 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ and Johnstown, PA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 12.3 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
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 $87,455 in Johnstown.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Johnstown
85.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Johnstown for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Johnstown | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $43,728 | $-6,272 |
| $75,000 | $65,591 | $-9,409 |
| $100,000 | $87,455 | $-12,545 |
| $150,000 | $131,183 | $-18,817 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Johnstown
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Johnstown share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 12.3 to 12.3 RPP points. Prescott Valley-Prescott remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (27.2 to 17.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Johnstown RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 90.7 | 12.3 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 86.8 | 9.7 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 88.7 | 9.9 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 87.6 | 5.6 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 85.9 | 12.3 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 Johnstown more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Johnstown is 12.5% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Johnstown equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $87,455 in Johnstown. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Johnstown?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Johnstown is at 42.3 (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.