Overall
Diff +7.2 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro is 7.3% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
7.3% more expensive
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA is 7.3% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 105.4 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $107,293 in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 105.4 (Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $107,293 purchasing power in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
- Rents drives the gap (+26.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:OR 98.3→105.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AZ × OR
- RENT-LED Rent-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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,647 | +$3,647 |
| $75,000 | $80,470 | +$5,470 |
| $100,000 | $107,293 | +$7,293 |
| $150,000 | $160,940 | +$10,940 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 105.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA is 7.3% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro is above 100 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 26.3 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 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 $107,293 in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +9.0 RPP
Services
Diff +15.5 RPP
Rents
Diff +26.3 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 105.4 | +7.2 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 105.2 | +9.0 |
| Services | 91.5 | 107.0 | +15.5 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 125.1 | +26.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 105.4
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 105.2
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 107.0
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 125.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
105.4
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 4.3 to 7.2 RPP points. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 23.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.4 to 26.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 98.7 | 4.3 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 104.3 | 7.8 points Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 101.5 | 2.9 points Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 105.8 | 12.6 points Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 105.4 | 7.2 points Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 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 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro is 7.3% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 105.4 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $107,293 in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro is at 125.1 (national average = 100). Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 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.