Overall
- Salem
- 103.6
Diff +5.4 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Salem
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Salem is 5.5% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
5.5% more expensive
Salem, OR is 5.5% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $105,490 in Salem; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 103.6 (Salem)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $105,490 purchasing power in Salem
- Services drives the gap (+13.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:OR 98.3→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AZ × OR
- SERVICES-LED Services-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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Salem, OR is 5.5% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.4-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Salem is above 100 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Salem 13.2 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 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 $105,490 in Salem, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Salem
- 105.3
Diff +9.0 RPP
Services
- Salem
- 104.7
Diff +13.2 RPP
Rents
- Salem
- 110.3
Diff +11.6 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Salem | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 103.6 | +5.4 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 105.3 | +9.0 |
| Services | 91.5 | 104.7 | +13.2 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 110.3 | +11.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Salem 103.6
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Salem 105.3
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Salem 104.7
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Salem 110.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Salem for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Salem | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,745 | +$2,745 |
| $75,000 | $79,117 | +$4,117 |
| $100,000 | $105,490 | +$5,490 |
| $150,000 | $158,235 | +$8,235 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Salem
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Salem more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Salem is 5.5% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Salem equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $105,490 in Salem. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Salem?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Salem is at 110.3 (national average = 100). Salem 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.