Overall
- New Orleans-Metairie
- 92.6
Diff -5.7 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs New Orleans-Metairie
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. New Orleans-Metairie is 5.8% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
5.8% less expensive
New Orleans-Metairie, LA is 5.8% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.6 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $94,242 in New Orleans-Metairie; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 92.6 (New Orleans-Metairie)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $94,242 purchasing power in New Orleans-Metairie
- Services drives the gap (-20.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:LA 98.3→92.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AZ × LA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
New Orleans-Metairie, LA is 5.8% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.7-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with New Orleans-Metairie 20.2 points lower 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 $94,242 in New Orleans-Metairie, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and New Orleans-Metairie share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 4.8 to 5.7 RPP points. Prescott Valley-Prescott remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (1.9 to 20.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | New Orleans-Metairie RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 98.2 | 4.8 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 97.9 | 1.3 points New Orleans-Metairie higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 98.2 | 0.5 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 95.7 | 2.6 points New Orleans-Metairie higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 92.6 | 5.7 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- New Orleans-Metairie
- 93.7
Diff -2.5 RPP
Services
- New Orleans-Metairie
- 71.2
Diff -20.2 RPP
Rents
- New Orleans-Metairie
- 86.0
Diff -12.8 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | New Orleans-Metairie | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 92.6 | -5.7 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.7 | -2.5 |
| Services | 91.5 | 71.2 | -20.2 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 86.0 | -12.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
New Orleans-Metairie 92.6
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
New Orleans-Metairie 93.7
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
New Orleans-Metairie 71.2
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
New Orleans-Metairie 86.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in New Orleans-Metairie for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In New Orleans-Metairie | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,121 | $-2,879 |
| $75,000 | $70,681 | $-4,319 |
| $100,000 | $94,242 | $-5,758 |
| $150,000 | $141,362 | $-8,638 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in New Orleans-Metairie
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 92.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
New Orleans-Metairie
92.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is New Orleans-Metairie more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
New Orleans-Metairie is 5.8% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 92.6 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in New Orleans-Metairie equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $94,242 in New Orleans-Metairie. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and New Orleans-Metairie?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while New Orleans-Metairie is at 86.0 (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.