Turning the Tables: Let’s Praise Massachusetts’ High Cost of Living

I’ve devoted – and will devote in the future – deserved scorn to Massachusetts’ high cost of housing, taxes and march toward gentrification. I chose to live here after graduating college in the early 1990s, and could not afford to do the same today. The Commonwealth’s high cost of living has driven scores of middle class families west of Route 495 or out of the state altogether and it is becoming increasingly hard for families with less education to remain here.

But while I wasn’t born here, perhaps I am becoming a jaded New Englander who only sees the glass half empty. There is a bright side to all this. Massachusetts would not be moving into the upper echelon of pricing, rents and cost of living unless it was a highly desirable and attractive place to live. The Commonwealth has continually reinvented itself over the centuries – from maritime shipping to industrial manufacturing and technology hub – and may be doing so yet again with a strong biotech push, buttressed by traditional Massachusetts pillars like financial services and defense.

For decades the most expensive places to live in America – New York, San Francisco, Southern California and Chicago – could cost what they wanted without reservation because people would pay a high premium to live, work and shop there. It’s basic supply and demand. It is not a complete negative that Boston may be entering into the elite status of these cities. The transformation of the greater metropolitan area has been remarkable over the last 15 years, and prices and rents would not be rising unless Boston was considered an attractive and successful place to live and work.

You can look at two places – Kenmore Square and the former Combat Zone – for a perfect example of what Boston has become. When I came to Boston, Kenmore Square was a dodgy area at best, and the Combat Zone was best avoided altogether unless you wanted a prostitute or drugs. Today the Combat Zone is no more – just two strip bars remain, hidden in alleys. That part of Washington Street is home to Chinese restaurants and the new Ritz Carlton Hotel. Kenmore Square, once home to the legendary Rathskeller and Narcissus nightclubs and greasy spoons like Pizza Pad and Charlie’s, now sports four-star hotels (Hotel Commonwealth) and restaurants (Great Bay). Yes, the neighborhoods are far less interesting and the rents there are now sky-high, but that’s another blog posting. Today’s point is Boston gains far more recognition and revenue from being a high-end destination, and that is better for the city and state as a whole. The same scene repeats itself in places from South Boston to the South End.

And if Boston and Massachusetts have become places where the rich thrive, it’s also because we have developed a high-skilled, knowledge-based economy. Unlike the shipping and manufacturing trades, finding work in industries like biotech, finance and health care requires a college degree and an old-fashioned Puritan work ethic. Did the middle class leave Boston behind or did Boston leave them behind? Perhaps the answer is both.

It appears that the Massachusetts of the 21st century has evolved and innovated into a metropolis that attracts the brightest and the wealthiest. That is quite an accomplishment. With such a strong crop of universities turning out knowledge workers, strong funding and networks help entrepreneurs and the current national leaders in medicine, health care and finance continue driving the economy upward. You could even argue that the serious problems caused by the high cost of living are problems that places like Wyoming and Alaska would be happy to have.

More Info: MassINC's Report on New Skills for a New Economy

How Boston has Continually Innovated to Drive its Economy

Some Lamenting for the Old Kenmore Square