Overall
- Milwaukee-Waukesha
- 96.9
Diff -1.3 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Milwaukee-Waukesha
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Milwaukee-Waukesha is 1.3% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
1.3% less expensive
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI is 1.3% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.9 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $98,659 in Milwaukee-Waukesha; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 96.9 (Milwaukee-Waukesha)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $98,659 purchasing power in Milwaukee-Waukesha
- Goods drives the gap (-2.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:WI 98.3→96.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × WI
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Milwaukee-Waukesha
96.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ and Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Goods creates the largest separation: Milwaukee-Waukesha is 2.4 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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.
For a goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $98,659 in Milwaukee-Waukesha as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Prescott Valley-Prescott, then replace the national basket with your own.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Milwaukee-Waukesha
- 93.8
Diff -2.4 RPP
Services
- Milwaukee-Waukesha
- 91.6
Diff +0.1 RPP
Rents
- Milwaukee-Waukesha
- 97.1
Diff -1.7 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Milwaukee-Waukesha | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 96.9 | -1.3 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.8 | -2.4 |
| Services | 91.5 | 91.6 | +0.1 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 97.1 | -1.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Milwaukee-Waukesha 96.9
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Milwaukee-Waukesha 93.8
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Milwaukee-Waukesha 91.6
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Milwaukee-Waukesha 97.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Milwaukee-Waukesha share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.3 to 1.3 RPP points. Prescott Valley-Prescott remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (19.4 to 0.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Milwaukee-Waukesha RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 97.7 | 5.3 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 97.6 | 1.0 points Milwaukee-Waukesha higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 99.1 | 0.5 points Milwaukee-Waukesha higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 95.7 | 2.6 points Milwaukee-Waukesha higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 96.9 | 1.3 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Milwaukee-Waukesha for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Milwaukee-Waukesha | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,329 | $-671 |
| $75,000 | $73,994 | $-1,006 |
| $100,000 | $98,659 | $-1,341 |
| $150,000 | $147,988 | $-2,012 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Milwaukee-Waukesha
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 96.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Milwaukee-Waukesha more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Milwaukee-Waukesha is 1.3% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 96.9 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Milwaukee-Waukesha equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $98,659 in Milwaukee-Waukesha. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Milwaukee-Waukesha?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Milwaukee-Waukesha is at 97.1 (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.