Pros and Cons of New Jersey? (Newark, Paterson: low crime, home, neighborhoods)

[kmanloup]

New Jersey certainly has an interesting stereotype thanks to the show Jersey Shore, but I'm sure there is more to Jersey than that. I would like to know what are the pros and cons of living in New Jersey?

[Jews for Jesus]

I lived in NJ for two years when my spouse had a temporary job in the city.

+ Proximity to NYC and Philly, as well as other major Northeastern cities and Eastern Canada's major cities.
+ Generally great public schools (among the top in NJ)
+ Everything from the mountains, beaches, lakes, rivers, forest, urban, suburban, rural, parks, McMansions, shopping, skiing, casinos, etc.
+ Lots of shopping and tax-free purchase of shoes and clothing!
+ Good public transportation
+ Blue laws (hate long business hours in suburban place)
+ No trucks in G S Parkway
+ Paramus malls and shopping

- Very high property taxes
- High cost of living/housing/rents
- Higher crime in big cities (Newark, Jersey city, Trenton)
- Lack of large city (1+M) in the state itself
- Traffic during rush hour
- Too dense in some places

[EBWick]

We like to tell it like it is. Like...this thread is stupid & pointless.

[Freshflakes757]

Positives: Diversity in people and natural surroundings, proximity to NYC and Philly, some up and coming areas (although extremely slow turnaround.)

Negatives: Public Union corruption, high property taxes and tolls, high cost of living, poor highway and signage conditions, lack of a true major city within the state borders, pretty much impossible to own a home unless you are making over 100K a year, bad accents and famous stereotypes

Not going to include schools because it's a double edge sword -- high property taxes = OK schools.

[usayit]

First... You cannot clump NJ into a single category. North West, North East, Central, Shore, and South Jersey are practically different states in many respects.


I'm from Texas so that's my perspective which is biased towards cost of living sticker shock. I am in the Northern part of NJ.

Cons:
* Cost of Living
* High Property Tax
* Did I say Property Tax?
* Proximity to NYC
* Local Corruption and politics.
* Each municipality insists on their own infrastructure systems (drives cost up). This includes schools.
* Pockets of high crime.
* Reputation.
* Traffic

Pros:
* Diversity!
* Proximity to NYC (double edge sword)
* Lots of things to do both within state and nearby states.
* Neighborhood people are nice (outside of the "suburbs of NYC")
* Find the right area and you can easily forget you are in the middle of a highly populated state.
* Schools can be good (depending on area).

[banksock]

Pros
Good Food
Wawas everywhere
Close to Nyc And Philly
Good Beaches
Atlantic City



Cons
High cost of living/housing/rents
It can get boring here,(South Jersey it feels like a big endless suburb here)
No Major city
Stores don't sell liquor inside
Jobs are hard to find here'
Corruption
Crime
Some areas are very run down
High Taxes

[mummy2two]

I wonder a senior member EBWick with so much reputation call this thread stupid and pointless. for a person like me who is contemplating a move to NJ and not have to go to NJ coz i have other options, i am very interested to know the pros and cons and this thread is really helping me. So wonder why to call this pointless, its atleast helping someone and getting some perspective from various people.

thanks for the others who posted true opinions and situations for the pros and cons.

[JerseyGirl415]

Pros:
- proximity to beaches, mountains, and 2 major cities (NYC and Philly) with 2 more major cities a 3-5 hour drive or train ride away depending on where in NJ you live (DC and Boston)
- a highly educated workforce and population in general
- overall good schools (and colleges - Rutgers and Princeton for two)
- the Jersey Shore has a great culture IMO (ignoring the show obviously, which is not at all the culture except maybe for like 2 shore towns), something I love about living here
- great food and a variety of cultures and ethnicities represented overall, we are a very diverse state
- low crime outside of cities like Camden, Newark, Elizabeth, Paterson, Atlantic City
- nice, safe suburbs
- lots of shopping, high and low end both
- many activities: fishing, hiking, history, boating, beaches in the summer, skiing in the winter, etc because of our pretty impressive topography for such a small state
- NJ is actually very beautiful in most places. It's very green, leafy, many parks and tree lined neighborhoods, rivers, lakes, ponds, the ocean, bays, lagoons, areas of high elevation, etc. Most people from outside here don't think it's too pretty because of stereotypes but it really is.
- 4 seasons is a huge plus for me, but could easily be a con for others

Cons:
- expensive
- you pay to get on most beaches, BUT they are very clean and very nice
- you get less home and property for your money compared to many other states
- most densely populated state (I don't mind this as I'm used to it but not everyone loves density and high traffic)
- we're kind of a political mess
- We are severely stereotyped and easily the most made fun of state ever. It gets old. I'm sick of telling people outside NJ and NY where I'm from because they usually give me some bad joke, butchered accent, or a downright rude comment they think is funny. Over it.
- we have Camden, one of the most dangerous if not the most dangerous cities in the country
- our highways have tolls and you have to pay to access NYC from all ends

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by mummy2two

I wonder a senior member EBWick with so much reputation call this thread stupid and pointless. for a person like me who is contemplating a move to NJ and not have to go to NJ coz i have other options, i am very interested to know the pros and cons and this thread is really helping me. So wonder why to call this pointless, its atleast helping someone and getting some perspective from various people.

thanks for the others who posted true opinions and situations for the pros and cons.

I think it was probably the unnecessary remark about the Jersey Shore TV show that set him off. We do tend to have that reaction when it appears that there are actually people out there who really believe that show is representative of NJ. And, as another poster pointed out, the stupid jokes and fake accent stuff get really, really old.

But others did give some good information, so take what you can use and ignore the rest.

[EBWick]

Originally Posted by mummy2two

I wonder a senior member EBWick with so much reputation call this thread stupid and pointless. for a person like me who is contemplating a move to NJ and not have to go to NJ coz i have other options, i am very interested to know the pros and cons and this thread is really helping me. So wonder why to call this pointless, its atleast helping someone and getting some perspective from various people.

thanks for the others who posted true opinions and situations for the pros and cons.

Hey fugeddaboutit! If you make it to Joisey I'll buy ya some disco fries at Tick-Tock, we'll watch the gas jockeys pump our gas and then race our Chevys out on Highway 9 till the engines blow up.