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Could anyone give me a ranking in terms of safety on the following towns: Weehawken, Union City, West New York, North Bergen, Guttenberg, Edgewater. Finding a lot of varied information about each of these places on this forum, but would kind of like to get an idea of how they all stack up against each other.
From information I have gathered and from what I experienced being in these areas I would put them like this: Edgewater, Weehawken, North Bergen, Guttenberg, West New York, then Union City. North Bergen is kind of hard to compare to the others because of its size. It is shaped like an upside down L or you could say a backward 7. The top part is the nicer section. It has North Hudson Park there and it has a section of Boulevard East. That section IMO is comparable to Weehawken and Edgewater. The other section has more in common with WNY and UC, but I feel it is safer than them. I had a hard time placing Guttenberg because it is so small that you don't even realize when you are in it, so I put it between NB and WNY. West New York is pretty safe near blvd east and there is another ok section back near the community college. I never felt in danger the times I was there, but there are some very poor sections of the town. Union City to me is a definite last place in this group. I don't think UC is that bad, but compared to the others it has less upside and more dangerous areas. But once again it matters where you are. The section of UC that borders Weehawken is very nice and safe, you can barley tell when you cross the border. IMO based on safety Edgewater and Weehawken as a whole are a couple of steps above the rest, I think you would be better off comparing sections of the towns. None of them are war zones. Hope this helps.
If we are measuring safety by number of violent crimes. I'd put it in this order starting with safest to less safe.
Edgewater
Weehawken
Guttenberg/West New York/North Bergen
Union City
Keep in mind though Edgewater is small town, have least population out of all of the ones you mentioned, and highest density of wealth concentrated which all contribute to being more 'safe'.
However I do see plenty of vehicle accidents in Edgewater.
To improve perspective of the stats listed below, Jersey City is in the 200s and Newark is in the 300s. Most Bergen County towns are in the low double digits. I live in Weehawken and can confirm the actual security situation in town matches the stats.
Property crime - combined risks of burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft
Weehawken 4
Edgewater 10
North Bergen 54
West New York (includes Guttenburg) 102
Union City 109
Personal crime -combined risk of rape, murder, assault and robbery.
Edgewater 7
Weehawken 8
North Bergen 54
West New York (includes Guttenburg) 78
Union City 125
A score of 200 indicates twice the national average total crime risk, while 50 indicates half the national risk. The different types of crime are given equal weight in this score, so murder, for example, does not count more than vehicle theft. Scores are based on demographic and geographic analyses of crime over seven years.
Thanks everyone for your input, it's much appreciated. It sounds like Edgewater and Weehawken have the edge in terms of safety, but there are probably much more dangerous towns than all of the ones I listed.
That being said, I'm kind of wondering if the slightly lower rents in Edgewater and Weehawken (compared to Hoboken) are washed out when considering transportation options into the city? It's my understanding that if I'm living in Hoboken, I would just get a monthly pass for the PATH to get into the city ($54). In Edgewater I'm guessing I'd have to rely on NY waterway (monthly $272) or a NJ Transit bus pass (Monthly $136). In Weehawken I suppose I could do NY waterway (monthly $252) or Hudson-Bergen light rail (Monthly $64) + PATH (Monthly $54). Does this reasoning sound remotely correct? If so, I guess I'm only spending $60-80 more on transportation (assuming I avoid NY waterway). Can anyone confirm this?
Can anyone also chime in on whether Edgewater and Weehawken are as congested as Hoboken in terms of trying to get out with your car? Is it always congested?
The whole NJ Gold Coast is congested, its the densest part of NJ in terms of population......so theres Traffic everywhere , even on Sundays. Living along a Transit Corridor , or Bus route will reduce your frustration. NY Waterway isn't worth it anymore. You can use the PATH and HBLR , which connect you do the same places.
Living along the PATH corridors is the cheapest. Look into the area around Journal SQ / Historic Downtown and if you can afford the prices in Newport part of Jersey City. Historic Downtown is the nicest and cheapest to medium priced out of all of them and has access too , 2 PATH lines. Hoboken and Newport are some of the most Expensive areas of the NJ Gold Coast.
Edgewater is ok , but you'll need a car somewhat.
Weehawken you can relay more on the Buses and have access to the Light Rail. But Weehawken is farther north. Living along a PATH corridor also means you can be out all night , since the PATH operates 24/7, along with some buses.
Thanks everyone for your input, it's much appreciated. It sounds like Edgewater and Weehawken have the edge in terms of safety, but there are probably much more dangerous towns than all of the ones I listed.
That being said, I'm kind of wondering if the slightly lower rents in Edgewater and Weehawken (compared to Hoboken) are washed out when considering transportation options into the city? It's my understanding that if I'm living in Hoboken, I would just get a monthly pass for the PATH to get into the city ($54). In Edgewater I'm guessing I'd have to rely on NY waterway (monthly $272) or a NJ Transit bus pass (Monthly $136). In Weehawken I suppose I could do NY waterway (monthly $252) or Hudson-Bergen light rail (Monthly $64) + PATH (Monthly $54). Does this reasoning sound remotely correct? If so, I guess I'm only spending $60-80 more on transportation (assuming I avoid NY waterway). Can anyone confirm this?
Can anyone also chime in on whether Edgewater and Weehawken are as congested as Hoboken in terms of trying to get out with your car? Is it always congested?
You will need to throw on cost of subway in NYC if you plan to use their services. If you own a car in Hoboken. You will probably need to rent a parking space unless apartment complex have one for tenants. It's uncommon for apartment in Hoboken to have parking lot since most are pre-war. Parking will lot space cost you $150-300 a month in Hoboken. As for other towns like Edgewater, generally most apartment complex have parking space so it's not bad. In my opinion it evens out. However NJ Path is hard to beat. It does run 24/7. Bus service to NYC in weekend doesn't even start till like 8 AM in Edgewater which really blows if you need to get into city early. Ferry does not run on weekend either. During bad weather like severe snow or rain, bus and/or ferry may not run Path is usually open.
As above poster said all cities along the coast is congested. Especially by tunnels and bridge.
If your job is in NYC, there are viable alternatives in NY side too. If you don't have kids and don't have to worry about school district it's well worth looking into. Check out Astoria, Long Island City in Queens. Dumbo in Brooklyn.
Everything within 10 miles(more in some directions) of NYC is crowded and congested. I actually feel like most of the gold coast isn't that bad. The TRUE gold coast doesn't include the whole communities of the cities and towns that are listed in it. Only the waterfront of most are really the gold coast like in JC only Downtown is really the gold coast and Weehawken/West New York/Guttenberg and etc. most of their communities aren't on the gold coast, just a small portion of them. The only communities I can think of off the top of my head that are totally on the gold coast are Hoboken and Edgewater. Most of the "true gold coast" areas are relatively new and have fairly wide roads by NJ standards except places like Hoboken and parts of downtown JC. A lot of these areas are pretty empty during most of the day and really easy to walk or drive around in. When compared to areas on top of the palisades(Weehawken/WNY/UC/NB/Guttenberg), Journal square in Jersey City, or places like Paramus in Bergen county traffic here is a joke.
Thanks everyone for your input, it's much appreciated. It sounds like Edgewater and Weehawken have the edge in terms of safety, but there are probably much more dangerous towns than all of the ones I listed.
That being said, I'm kind of wondering if the slightly lower rents in Edgewater and Weehawken (compared to Hoboken) are washed out when considering transportation options into the city? It's my understanding that if I'm living in Hoboken, I would just get a monthly pass for the PATH to get into the city ($54). In Edgewater I'm guessing I'd have to rely on NY waterway (monthly $272) or a NJ Transit bus pass (Monthly $136). In Weehawken I suppose I could do NY waterway (monthly $252) or Hudson-Bergen light rail (Monthly $64) + PATH (Monthly $54). Does this reasoning sound remotely correct? If so, I guess I'm only spending $60-80 more on transportation (assuming I avoid NY waterway). Can anyone confirm this?
Can anyone also chime in on whether Edgewater and Weehawken are as congested as Hoboken in terms of trying to get out with your car? Is it always congested?
There are also what they call "dollar vans" that service some of these areas. I have heard that they run 24hrs in some communities and cheaper than NJT buses. Lately I have been in UC, WNY, and Weehawken pretty late (around 2 or so) and they were still running and they were coming pretty often too. From what I heard from people who rely on Path, they get pretty spread out at night and all go through Hoboken and lay over there. They complain about how slow it is at night, but I only witnessed this once and didn't think it was really that bad. I think they are just spoiled with the fast service they get during normal hours of they day. Also, Just living in Hoboken doesn't mean you have great access to Path. The Path station is all the way in the southeast corner of the city which means most of the city has a pretty decent distance to walk to the station. There are still a lot of people who take the bus from Hoboken into the city. Although Path maybe 24/7 and quick, there are still more bus stops then there are Path stations actually only JC has more than one station.
Getting onto the Turnpike from Weehawken is a pain in the neck but the Kennedy entrance is better than the Park Ave one.
Traffic along River Rd at the foot of the Palisade is quite good, except maybe Sat. afternoon. You can get to towns north & the GWB that way (Fort Lee, Englewood).
Public transportation to/from Weehawken is as good as Hoboken, IMO. The NJT buses and minibuses (what Dorian called dollar vans - they cost $2.50) are great like she said. There's also the ferry and depending where you are light rail may be an option. The only hitch is that tunnel traffic can get stuck but when it's running fast you can be in the city in 15 mins. The longest it's ever taken me is about 40 mins. My hubby does the bus commute every day at 7:30 am and 6:30 pm and rarely has exceptional delays. ETA: He drives in on the weekends and it's a breeze.
Last edited by Ninasimonejr; 06-21-2010 at 10:27 AM..
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. Also, Just living in Hoboken doesn't mean you have great access to Path. The Path station is all the way in the southeast corner of the city which means most of the city has a pretty decent distance to walk to the station. There are still a lot of people who take the bus from Hoboken into the city. Although Path maybe 24/7 and quick, there are still more bus stops then there are Path stations actually only JC has more than one station.
