Ian Hodgson

Workforce talent is really the shining star that brought Boston to the top of our list this year.

Yeah, I mean, workforce talent is really the shining star that brought Boston to the top of our list this year.

And this workforce capital really means a highly educated workforce, a large portion of your population being in that working age spectrum and a atmosphere of educational institutions, startup companies.

where innovation is really happening.

And, you know, one stat really stood out to me is that one in four dollars of biopharma VC funding in the US goes to Massachusetts companies.

And for a relatively small state, you know, it's the second highest share in the country behind California.

So Boston actually scored very well across the board.

And I think that's one of the reasons why it came up as our winner this year.

I mean, workforce and talent is its star, but foreign business needs, being close to a major port, having a large international airport.

Openness and diversity, Boston scores incredibly well on having a diverse population base that speaks a wide variety of languages.

And one of the places that Boston also scored really well is our new energy resilience category.

So that measures things like how much gas increased during the war in Iran, how many people in your community actually rely on their car to get to work.

And on the energy grid side, how many days per year your grid is down, barring the most extreme events?

Right.

The biggest thing that anybody will tell you when you talk about Boston is the cost of living.

Cost of housing is among the worst in the country.

Baseline energy costs there are fairly high.

Food costs are fairly high.

You know, the people I've talked to have said you get a great quality of life living in Boston.

But you do pay for that quality of life.