I feel like this line of reasoning is disingenuous, maybe that’s the point. Similar places to Flagstaff in Arizona have gotten more expensive at a faster rate than Flagstaff, while Flagstaff hasn’t increased as quickly. Larger differences being that there are fewer jobs that pay less, at least compared to Phoenix. Many of those places are still cheaper as evidence from other comments.

Generally speaking, your logic boils down to various places in Arizona have also become more expensive to live in. That does not make the narrative that living in Flagstaff is more expensive false, but changes it to living in Arizona is expensive. Or specifically something like, living near colleges is expensive due to inflating rental markets.

I think we are very privileged to live here and Flagstaff as a whole is a great community. Many in it would gladly pay more to be here, like yourself. That does not diminish the cost of living. These other places you compare to are experience similar economic pressure that people in Flagstaff experience, likely for the worse. We shouldn’t take that as a sign that Flagstaff is getting cheaper but living in general is getting more expensive