Overall
- Wilmington
- 96.4
Diff -1.8 RPP
Prescott Valley-Prescott vs Wilmington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wilmington is 1.9% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott.
1.9% less expensive
Wilmington, NC is 1.9% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.4 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott buys about the same as $98,134 in Wilmington; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott) vs 96.4 (Wilmington)
- $100k in Prescott Valley-Prescott ≈ $98,134 purchasing power in Wilmington
- Rents drives the gap (-5.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:NC 98.3→96.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × NC
- 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
Wilmington
96.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ and Wilmington, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.8 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Wilmington is 5.6 points lower. But goods 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 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 $98,134 in Wilmington.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Wilmington
- 96.6
Diff +0.4 RPP
Services
- Wilmington
- 87.9
Diff -3.6 RPP
Rents
- Wilmington
- 93.2
Diff -5.6 RPP
| Category | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 96.4 | -1.8 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.6 | +0.4 |
| Services | 91.5 | 87.9 | -3.6 |
| Rents | 98.8 | 93.2 | -5.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Wilmington 96.4
Goods
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Wilmington 96.6
Services
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Wilmington 87.9
Rents
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Wilmington 93.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Prescott Valley-Prescott and Wilmington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 9.8 to 1.8 RPP points. Prescott Valley-Prescott remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (26.8 to 5.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Wilmington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.0 | 93.2 | 9.8 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 95.2 | 1.4 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2016 | 98.6 | 95.1 | 3.5 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 93.2 | 94.0 | 0.9 points Wilmington higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 96.4 | 1.8 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott would need to be in Wilmington for the same purchasing power:
| In Prescott Valley-Prescott | In Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,067 | $-933 |
| $75,000 | $73,601 | $-1,399 |
| $100,000 | $98,134 | $-1,866 |
| $150,000 | $147,202 | $-2,798 |
$ in Prescott Valley-Prescott = in Wilmington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 96.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wilmington more expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Wilmington is 1.9% less expensive than Prescott Valley-Prescott. The overall cost index is 96.4 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wilmington equals $100K in Prescott Valley-Prescott?
A $100,000 salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott has the same purchasing power as $98,134 in Wilmington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Prescott Valley-Prescott and Wilmington?
Rents in Prescott Valley-Prescott are indexed at 98.8 while Wilmington is at 93.2 (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.