Overall
- Visalia
- 99.8
Diff +1.6 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Visalia
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Visalia is 1.6% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
1.6% more expensive
Visalia, CA is 1.6% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 99.8 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $101,598 in Visalia; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 99.8 (Visalia)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $101,598 purchasing power in Visalia
- Services drives the gap (+65.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:CA 98.3→99.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × CA
- 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
Visalia
99.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ and Visalia, CA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Visalia is 65.0 points higher. But 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 $101,598 in Visalia, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Visalia
- 105.2
Diff +8.9 RPP
Services
- Visalia
- 156.4
Diff +65.0 RPP
Rents
- Visalia
- 84.1
Diff -14.7 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Visalia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 99.8 | +1.6 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 105.2 | +8.9 |
| Services | 91.5 | 156.4 | +65.0 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 84.1 | -14.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Visalia 99.8
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Visalia 105.2
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Visalia 156.4
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Visalia 84.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Visalia share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.1 to 1.6 RPP points. Visalia remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 53.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (11.2 to 65.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Visalia RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 94.9 | 8.1 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 98.7 | 2.1 points Visalia higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 94.6 | 4.0 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 98.8 | 5.6 points Visalia higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 99.8 | 1.6 points Visalia 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 Visalia for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Visalia | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,799 | +$799 |
| $75,000 | $76,198 | +$1,198 |
| $100,000 | $101,598 | +$1,598 |
| $150,000 | $152,397 | +$2,397 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Visalia
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 99.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Visalia more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Visalia is 1.6% more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 99.8 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Visalia equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $101,598 in Visalia. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Visalia?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Visalia is at 84.1 (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.