Boston lays claim to most-costly title

The nation's oldest capital city also has a distinction it is not so likely to brag about: It is reportedly the most expensive city in the continental United States. A year-end report by the US Department of Labor showed Boston-area housing prices, 35 percent above the country's urban average, to be the main culprit for high family living costs. One area where Bostonians particularly felt the strain in 1980 was energy. Natural gas, electricity, and fuel oil prices leaped 19.1 percent while the average US increase was 18.9 percent.