> And the cost of living is simply absurd

I'd agree compared to many places, but Boston is hardly cheaper than the Valley! It's cheaper than SF, but more expensive than Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Clara, etc. At least as far as apartment rentals go; I haven't looked at how purchasing a house would compare.

There are Boston suburbs which are cheaper, but unlike in the Valley, there is not much going on there. The South Bay has a bunch of tech companies (Apple, nVidia, etc.), community spaces like the Hacker Dojo, coworking spaces like NextSpace, etc. The parts of Boston where you can find an apartment for San-Jose-level rents don't really have anything like that.