Can somebody please describe these 6 Essex County towns? (Newark, East Orange: crime, roughest)

[LongIslandPerson]

1. Orange
2. South Orange
3. West Orange
4. East Orange
5. Montclair
6. Maplewood

Can you please give a quick evaluation/description of these towns? What are the differences between them?

Thank you

[zhelder]

Originally Posted by LongIslandPerson

1. Orange
2. South Orange
3. West Orange
4. East Orange
5. Montclair
6. Maplewood

Can you please give a quick evaluation/description of these towns? What are the differences between them?

Thank you

Sure.

Orange -Real rough and run down. Not large, but very urban (and not good urban like Manhattan). There are some great restaurants in the town though.

South Orange - Most of it is very nice, but there are some rough areas. Its reputation is somewhat on the decline. Schools aren't really bad, but they're not in the same league as most towns of similar affluence.

West Orange - Pretty much the same as South Orange.

East Orange - The roughest of the bunch. They've experienced some very significant drops in crime over the past several years, but they have a very long way to go.

Montclair - Has become a "limousine liberal" haven over the past decade. (I don't mean that as an insult, BTW.) Very diverse. Most of it is beautiful, but again, there are some rough areas. Downtown is awesome, but traffic can be maddening. Schools are probably a little better than South/West Orange's, but again, not quite in the same league as most towns of similar affluence.

Maplewood - Another (mostly) beautiful town which borders some very very rough towns. They share Columbia High School with South Orange. Probably the most affluent town of the bunch, but not by much.

[hrjersey]

zhelder did a good job of summarizing the towns, I'll just add a few comments.

Orange - There are some nice homes in Orange especially where it borders West Orange and South Orange but as was stated, this is a town with a lot of problems.

South Orange - Extremely high taxes and as stated, you aren't getting great schools or services for those tax dollars.

Maplewood - Similar to South Orange as far as high taxes and as was stated they share the school district with South Orange.

Also South Orange and Maplewood border Newark, Irvington, Orange and East Orange. As much as they try, the fact is - and this is my personal feeling, the towns do not feel as safe as they did when I was growing up there. On the positive side, these are nice family oriented towns with really nice diversity.

West Orange does not have a nice down town area like South Orange and Maplewood.

East Orange - nothing to add

Montclair - haven't been in the area for a long time so I can't comment.

[veuvegirl]

Search the NJ forum for other threads. You will find a ton of information on each town.

[Whoelsebutcharles]

Originally Posted by hrjersey

Orange - There are some nice homes in Orange especially where it borders West Orange and South Orange but as was stated, this is a town with a lot of problems.

7 Oaks is the "good" part.

Also check out these threads:
Difference between Essex and Bergen
South orange is becoming undesirable...

[nykstevenyg]

The only thing forgotten is size. Not adding on East Orange and Orange that they pretty much hit the nose on. Montclair and West Orange are MUCH larger then South Orange and Maplewood. Maplewood and South Orange are similar, Montclair is similar to them but on a much larger scale. West Orange is different then all it much more suburban in character but lacks a usable downtown. Also the down the hill sections of Maplewood and South Orange have a much bigger effect on the town then the down the hill parts of Montclair and West Orange do.