Colorado vs Arizona

Household income

Currently in

Moving to

Your $100,000 in Colorado is worth

$96,993

at national prices · RPP 103.1BEA RPP SARPPSource: BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 vintage · released February 2026 · Official API

The same income in Arizona is worth

$99,305

at national prices · RPP 100.7BEA RPP SARPPSource: BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 vintage · released February 2026 · Official API

Your income goes +$2,312 further in Arizona (+2.4% purchasing power).

Show the math

adjusted = income ÷ (RPP ÷ 100)

Colorado: $100,000 ÷ (103.1 ÷ 100) = $96,993

Arizona: $100,000 ÷ (100.7 ÷ 100) = $99,305

difference: $99,305 − $96,993 = +$2,312

Where the difference comes from

Price level by component, 100 = US average. Higher means more expensive.

Regional price parity by component for the two states, with the percentage difference.
Component	Colorado	Arizona	Difference
All items	103.1	100.7	−2.3%
Housing rents	127.4	106.8	−16.2%
Goods	98.7	95.4	−3.3%
Utilities	85.0	92.3	+8.6%
Other services	99.6	102.8	+3.2%

BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 · rel. February 2026 · Official API

Housing reality check

Typical rent and home price in each state — tangible context beyond the index.

ColoradoMedian rent$1,761/moMedian home$539,400

ArizonaMedian rent$1,543/moMedian home$394,500

US Census ACS 5-Year Estimates · ACS5 · 2024 · rel. December 2025 · Official API

Tax at a glance

Hand-curated, tax year 2026 · verified 2026-07-20

Income and sales tax for the two states.
Tax	Colorado	Arizona
Income tax (top rate)	4.40%	2.50%
Sales tax (combined avg)	7.89%	8.52%

Tax Foundation (income & sales) · Tax · 2026 · rel. tax year 2026 · Manually maintained · verified 2026-07-20

Official API Manually maintained2 of 3 metrics sourced from official APIs, 1 manually maintained. How every number is calculated →

Colorado vs Arizona: the read

The bottom line

Move a $100,000 income from Colorado to Arizona and its purchasing power changes from $96,993 to $99,305 in national-average terms — a gain of $2,312. Arizona is the cheaper of the two, running at 100.7 on the price index versus 103.1.

Where the difference comes from

The widest gap is housing rents: Colorado sits at 127.4 and Arizona at 106.8 (100 = national). Arizona has the edge there, and it's the main reason the two states diverge.

Housing

Median rent runs $1,761 in Colorado against $1,543 in Arizona, and the typical home $539,400 versus $394,500. Arizona is the more affordable place to buy.

Taxes

On tax, Colorado has 4.40% top income tax and a combined sales tax of 7.89%; Arizona has 2.50% top income tax and 8.52%. Weigh both against the purchasing-power figure above.

Full profiles: Colorado ·Arizona. Every figure here is sourced on the pages linked above.

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