Overall
- Wilmington
- 96.4
Diff +1.8 RPP
Wilmington vs Prescott Valley-Prescott
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Prescott Valley-Prescott is 1.9% more expensive than Wilmington.
1.9% more expensive
Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ is 1.9% more expensive than Wilmington, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 96.4). A $100,000 salary in Wilmington buys about the same as $101,901 in Prescott Valley-Prescott; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 96.4 (Wilmington) vs 98.3 (Prescott Valley-Prescott)
- $100k in Wilmington ≈ $101,901 purchasing power in Prescott Valley-Prescott
- Rents drives the gap (+5.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:AZ 96.4→98.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NC × AZ
- 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.
Wilmington
96.4
Cost Index
Prescott Valley-Prescott
98.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Wilmington, NC and Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ 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: Prescott Valley-Prescott is 5.6 points higher. 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 Wilmington corresponds to $101,901 in Prescott Valley-Prescott.
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 | Wilmington | Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.4 | 98.3 | +1.8 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 96.2 | -0.4 |
| Services | 87.9 | 91.5 | +3.6 |
| Rents | 93.2 | 98.8 | +5.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Wilmington 96.4
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.3
Goods
Wilmington 96.6
Prescott Valley-Prescott 96.2
Services
Wilmington 87.9
Prescott Valley-Prescott 91.5
Rents
Wilmington 93.2
Prescott Valley-Prescott 98.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Wilmington and Prescott Valley-Prescott 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 | Wilmington RPP | Prescott Valley-Prescott RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.2 | 103.0 | 9.8 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2012 | 95.2 | 96.5 | 1.4 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2016 | 95.1 | 98.6 | 3.5 points Prescott Valley-Prescott higher |
| 2020 | 94.0 | 93.2 | 0.9 points Wilmington higher |
| 2024 | 96.4 | 98.3 | 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 Wilmington would need to be in Prescott Valley-Prescott for the same purchasing power:
| In Wilmington | In Prescott Valley-Prescott | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,951 | +$951 |
| $75,000 | $76,426 | +$1,426 |
| $100,000 | $101,901 | +$1,901 |
| $150,000 | $152,852 | +$2,852 |
$ in Wilmington = in Prescott Valley-Prescott
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.4 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Prescott Valley-Prescott more expensive than Wilmington?
Prescott Valley-Prescott is 1.9% more expensive than Wilmington. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 96.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Prescott Valley-Prescott equals $100K in Wilmington?
A $100,000 salary in Wilmington has the same purchasing power as $101,901 in Prescott Valley-Prescott. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Wilmington and Prescott Valley-Prescott?
Rents in Wilmington are indexed at 93.2 while Prescott Valley-Prescott is at 98.8 (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.