Overall
- Richmond
- 97.9
Diff -0.4 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Richmond
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Richmond is 0.4% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
0.4% less expensive
Richmond, VA is 0.4% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.9 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $99,596 in Richmond; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 97.9 (Richmond)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $99,596 purchasing power in Richmond
- Services drives the gap (-2.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:VA 98.3→97.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × VA
- 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
Richmond
97.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ and Richmond, VA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Richmond is 2.2 points lower. But goods and rents 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 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 $99,596 in Richmond, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Richmond
- 96.8
Diff +0.5 RPP
Services
- Richmond
- 89.2
Diff -2.2 RPP
Rents
- Richmond
- 99.1
Diff +0.4 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Richmond | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 97.9 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.8 | +0.5 |
| Services | 91.5 | 89.2 | -2.2 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 99.1 | +0.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Richmond 97.9
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Richmond 96.8
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Richmond 89.2
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Richmond 99.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Richmond for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Richmond | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,798 | $-202 |
| $75,000 | $74,697 | $-303 |
| $100,000 | $99,596 | $-404 |
| $150,000 | $149,394 | $-606 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Richmond
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 97.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Richmond more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Richmond is 0.4% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 97.9 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Richmond equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $99,596 in Richmond. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Richmond?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Richmond is at 99.1 (national average = 100). Richmond 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.