Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We plan on keeping our house in Massachusetts, and one of us will take a job in Jersey City.
We need to find a town where we could rent a studio apartment, in a managed community, either in CT, or NY, or upper NJ that is less than $1500. Willing to commute up to an hour and a half to Jersey City. Trying to keep the commute from MA less than 4 hours long. Schools are not important, but safety and amenities are.
We would like the town to be quaint or modern, with lots to do with kids (when one of us visits), clean, safe, walkable. Think Huntington NY, Port Jefferson NY, Westfield NJ, Chester NJ, Newton MA, Newburyport MA. Please list the towns we should consider in the above states. We have always like the Avalon communities, but I see every community starts at around $1700, not many studios at all to choose from.
Alternately if you could suggest a town which would fit the above criteria, and have a train connection to NYC (for activities), we could go up with the budget to $2000.
To summarize, need a:
Studio
Less than $1500
Very clean, modern, maybe even new
Up to 1.5hrs from Jersey City
Less than 4 hours from Boston
Walkable, family friendly, with lots to do (parks, museum, gift shops, ice cream shops)
Ideally close to a train station to NYC
Schools not important
Maybe Stamford-Norwalk corridor or Brewster-Danbury-Bethel corridor? You'll get a better place in Danbury for your money. The tricky part is doing JC in 1.5 hours from either location-- Boston in <4 hours shouldn't be an issue, though.
I think the only places that could possibly fit all your needs in CT are Greenwich and Stamford, but even those are very long commutes. You don't want to do that drive. It's over an hour without ANY traffic, and there's always traffic in NYC. Google Maps says the trip should take anywhere from 1 hour 5 minutes to 2 hours with average traffic. Could be 3 hours with snow, easily.
Keep in mind that doesn't include transportation to the stations.
In Westchester, maybe one of the Hudson Line towns would work well, or White Plains. You could commute by car, or take the train to GCT and then subway to the Path to Jersey City. It would be a long commute but probably under 90 minutes.
Any town you choose in CT or NY is going to be a bear getting to Jersey City by car though. That's a very congested area, one of the worst in the country.
Scarsdale is a great town, very expensive and high taxes though. If you are renting, no big deal. It's about 1 hour, 10 minutes from the Scarsdale train to Journal Square in JC and about a 3-4 hour drive to Boston, depending on traffic.
Getting to Jersey City from Connecticut will not be easy. Driving would be a daily nightmare and the train connections are not convenient. Commuter trains from Connecticut go to Grand Central Terminal while Jersey City PATH trains go out of Penn Station. These are not near each other so it is just not easy to commute there from here. I would suggest you concentrate your search to New Jersey itself. Why commute longer on a daily basis to be closer to Boston. Post your question on the New Jersey board for recommendations. Jay
Commuter trains from Connecticut go to Grand Central Terminal while Jersey City PATH trains go out of Penn Station. These are not near each other so it is just not easy to commute there from here.
I think you catch PATH at Herald Square, a 15-minute walk from GCT. None-the-less, I agree that's not something that should be done every day from CT.
CT doesn't offer many appealing options for a Jersey City commute - def not with a $1500 budget. I'd recommend looking in Northern NJ/Rockland County, NY - somewhere that's west of the Hudson. Look at towns along the Palisades Parkway to start.
I agree with Jay's advice -- don't bother with CT or NY. Don't also bother crossing GW Bridge and pay tolls everyday ($ 10 at least on EZPass). That's just $ 250 a month additional.
Go to Jersey, get a place near JC and GW bridge. No need to commute 90 minutes if you don't have to. You can reach Boston on weekends for about 4 hours from GW Bridge.
Members on NJ City-Data will help you.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
