Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Prescott's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Prescott?
Your $100,000 in Prescott has the same purchasing power as $101,978 in the average US city. You'd need $1,978 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Prescott's cost index of 98, sorted by closest match.
Wondering whether you should move to Prescott? It depends on what you're optimizing for, but the city has real arguments in its favor: crime statistics come out reassuring and air quality you don't have to think about, plus 2 more things worth knowing. The data behind each is below.
Prescott reports roughly 1,742 crime incidents per 100,000 residents, well under the US average of about 3,500 per 100k. As always, citywide numbers paper over real differences between neighborhoods — but the broader trend here is on the calmer end of the US distribution.
Prescott's air quality index averages about 41 — comfortably in the EPA's "good" range. No daily ritual of checking the AQI before going for a run, no smoky-day plans, no surprise asthma flare-ups for the kids. The kind of background condition you notice mostly by its absence.
The average one-way commute in Prescott is about 16 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
40% of adults 25 and over in Prescott hold a bachelor's degree or higher — meaningfully above the US average of around 36%. That correlates with the things you'd expect: stronger schools, more white-collar employers, more bookstores than the population alone would predict.
Reasons are pulled from Prescott's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Almost never. Prescott's winter average of about 47°F is too warm for snow most years. A measurable snowfall is the kind of event that closes schools and gets photographed for the local paper.
Barely. Winter in Prescott averages around 47°F — short, mild, mostly an excuse to break out a light jacket. Some plants don't even drop their leaves.
Genuinely hot. Summer in Prescott averages about 105°F, and peak afternoons run well over a hundred. Outdoor plans move to mornings and evenings; AC is the most-used appliance in the house.
Prescott falls in roughly USDA Zone 10. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Prescott is at about 5,289 feet (1,612 m) — high enough that newcomers from sea level sometimes feel a touch winded the first few days, dehydrate faster than expected, and notice that water boils a little quicker. Acclimation is usually a week or so.
By the numbers, yes. Prescott reports roughly 1,742 crime incidents per 100,000 residents — well under the US average of about 3,500 per 100k. The big caveat applies as always: every city has neighborhoods that look nothing like the citywide average. But the citywide average here is genuinely good.
Roughly average. Prescott's cost-of-living index is 98, putting it in the band where rent, groceries, and utilities track the national norm. Not a bargain, not a premium.
Not really — Prescott is built around the car. Its Walk Score of 1 out of 100 means almost every errand is a drive. Living without a car is technically possible but real work; most residents wouldn't try it.
Roughly $68,642 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Prescott runs about $1,085/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.