Boston area price is easy to explain. A place doesn't need to be the #1 in any category, if it has a good mix of all of those. Boston area ranks high quality of

Boston area price is easy to explain. A place doesn't need to be the #1 in any category, if it has a good mix of all of those. Boston area ranks high quality of life by any metric. Lower crime, high education, strong economy, history, sports, architecture, walkability/transit, etc. Even the weather is probably preferable on avg. when you have almost half the country in the Midwest and Texas.