Best Towns in NJ (Toms River, Union: crime, homes, neighborhood)

[Isabella]

Okay, so we've done the worst Towns. Now let's go over the good Towns. I'm new to NJ but so far I like Westfield, Union County and Colonia, Woodbridge Township. Ramsey in Bergen county is Super Clean!

[dullnboring]

I love Highland Park. It's quaint yet cosmopolitan, has a nice downtown and beautiful homes, is nice and compact (you can get by without owning a car assuming you work nearby or somewhere on the train line), and is very safe and it has a Farmer's Market I believe every week in the warmer months.

Red Bank is pretty nice too.

[christina0001]

Allentown
Cream Ridge
West Windsor
Hopewell
Mullica Hill
Cape May
Stillwater
Hope
(heck, just about anywhere in Warren County)

[NewHomeHappy]

Now isn't this much better??

Nice towns: I agree with Christina - Allentown is quaint. So is Cream Ridge !!
Columbus is really nice too

Thanks for the super post. It was about time we had something worth talking about here.

[Nikon35]

Best town in NJ would be Caldwell...

[pixieshmoo]

Depends on where you're looking, north, south or central (which we north jerseyans still consider south jersey!). North, I'd say the caldwells and verona are very nice considering it's still essex county (which is not that great a county and very overpriced/overtaxed but it's better than some others). Also, Parsippany, Randolph, Chester, Ringwood, West Milford, Vernon, Butler. That's northern NJ (morris, passaic and sussex counties). Summit (there was a fight between essex and union counties...not sure what county we've decided it's in). I have friends who are happy in the Sayreville area but I don't know much about it. Flemington is nice for way out to the west. And down south, I know Brick and Toms River are good, I've also heard that Forked (pronounced For-kid) River is nice and Barnegat/Waretown are supposedly up and coming. That's all I know...hope it's helped.

[njchick]

In Bergen County I'd vote for Cresskill (still has a small town feel), Tenafly, Demarest, Old Tappan, Norwood, River Vale, and Rockleigh, all very nice towns. Alpine is beautiful too, but doesn't have a real center of town, which to me makes a community. BTW, did anyone see NJ Monthly's list of the best towns? I was very suprised by the rankings, and thought some of them odd. Maybe that's because my town didn't make a high ranking, and it usually does, lol. I don't have the link, but you can go on their website and check it out. I don't know what the criteria was, but I was surprised where my hometown (Cresskill) fell on the list, since it is considered a lovely town in BC, and some towns that I know that don't have as good schools and are less safe were much higher in the rankings. On the website they do partially explain how they came to their conclusions. I think they factored in cost of living (taxes/services), vs. quality of life? Anyway, check out how your town ranked.

[pixieshmoo]

NJChick: That's exactly what they do in NJ Monthly. I also saw a list of NJ's 100 best towns to live in and was quite surprised myself with some of the towns on there. However, they choose these towns by different categories. Some are based on the safety/crime of the neighborhood, some are based on school systems. Others are determined by whether it's a good place for singles, couples, families, pet friendly, etc. And of course, there's always the cost of living factor, some are chosen for adequately priced homes or low tax area. The funny thing is that you'll usually find that some of the greatest towns are the ones a lot of people haven't heard of (I supposed that's what keeps these communities a little safer, etc.).

[Isabella]

Guys we need to keep this post alive. How does it come across when our thread is bigger for Worst Towns? Come on tell me what towns you love.

[NewHomeHappy]

Originally Posted by Isabella

Guys we need to keep this post alive. How does it come across when our thread is bigger for Worst Towns? Come on tell me what towns you love.

You're right Isabella! Careful not to bump your own post or else you'll get brow-beat & accussed of self bumping LOL
hmm self bumping ? Is that a word? LOL
In my opinion, for the Southern part of stste, I love Cape May. THe townis so pretty. THe market area in center of town is quaint & we love the Ugly Mug in the winter for it's Hot Apple Ciders. yum--