Overall
- Reno
- 101.0
Diff -2.8 RPP
Reno vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 2.7% less expensive than Reno.
2.7% less expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 2.7% less expensive than Reno, NV on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 101.0). A $100,000 salary in Reno buys about the same as $97,269 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 101.0 (Reno) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in Reno ≈ $97,269 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Rents drives the gap (-24.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NV:AZ 101.0→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NV × AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Reno
- 96.3
Diff -0.0 RPP
Services
- Reno
- 89.3
Diff +2.2 RPP
Rents
- Reno
- 123.5
Diff -24.7 RPP
| Category | Reno | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.0 | 98.3 | -2.8 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 96.2 | -0.0 |
| Services | 89.3 | 91.5 | +2.2 |
| Rents | 123.5 | 98.8 | -24.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Reno 101.0
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
Reno 96.3
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
Reno 89.3
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
Reno 123.5
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Prescott Valley-Prescott is 24.7 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 2.7% less expensive than Reno, NV, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Reno is above 100 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Reno corresponds to $97,269 in Prescott Valley-Prescott.
Reno
101.0
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Reno would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In Reno | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,634 | $-1,366 |
| $75,000 | $72,952 | $-2,048 |
| $100,000 | $97,269 | $-2,731 |
| $150,000 | $145,903 | $-4,097 |
$ in Reno = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.0 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Reno and Prescott Valley-Prescott share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.7 to 2.8 RPP points. Reno remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 13.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (11.1 to 24.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Reno RPP | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.3 | 103.0 | 1.7 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 102.5 | 96.5 | 5.9 points Reno higher |
| 2016 | 98.2 | 98.6 | 0.4 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 98.3 | 93.2 | 5.1 points Reno higher |
| 2024 | 101.0 | 98.3 | 2.8 points Reno 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 Prescott Valley-Prescott more expensive than Reno?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 2.7% less expensive than Reno. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 101.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in Reno?
A $100,000 salary in Reno has the same purchasing power as $97,269 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Reno and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in Reno are indexed at 123.5 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is at 98.8 (national average = 100). Reno 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.