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.
Where are you coming from? Philly
Why are you moving? Work relocation
Where will you be working? Moonachie/Carlstadt Area
Will you buy or rent? Rent
What is your budget? $1,300 - $1,700
What kind of place are you looking for? 2br/1 bath or 1br/1 bath apartment, condo or townhouse
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you? No, but family may visit frequently from out of town.
Do you need/want good public schools? No kids or need for schools
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in:
Walkability and proximity to bars, restaurants and stores would be my ideal neighborhood. Diversity is also important. I'd love a city with good nightlife and has a good amount of young professionals (maybe 28 & above). I prefer not to drive too far just to have fun. I'm single, 29, no kids and live alone.
List three things that are important to you in order of importance.(examples: safety, outdoor activities and nightlife.
** Caught in-between North Bergen vs. Lyndhurst/N. Arlington vs. Montclair areas. I did a quick drive through Rutherford today. It's close to work, but seems a bit too 'residential' for me.
Where are you coming from? Philly
Why are you moving? Work relocation
Where will you be working? Moonachie/Carlstadt Area
Will you buy or rent? Rent
What is your budget? $1,300 - $1,700
What kind of place are you looking for? 2br/1 bath or 1br/1 bath apartment, condo or townhouse
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you? No, but family may visit frequently from out of town.
Do you need/want good public schools? No kids or need for schools
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in:
Walkability and proximity to bars, restaurants and stores would be my ideal neighborhood. Diversity is also important. I'd love a city with good nightlife and has a good amount of young professionals (maybe 28 & above). I prefer not to drive too far just to have fun. I'm single, 29, no kids and live alone.
List three things that are important to you in order of importance.(examples: safety, outdoor activities and nightlife.
** Caught in-between North Bergen vs. Lyndhurst/N. Arlington vs. Montclair areas. I did a quick drive through Rutherford today. It's close to work, but seems a bit too 'residential' for me.
All suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
Montclair out of those areas for sure.
Jersey City/Hoboken are much better than Montclair for someone who is 29, and more expensive, and having a car aint cheap, but I'm sure you knew that.
Your budget may be problematic, unless you are open to having a roommate in a 2 bed, no matter where you look in northeastern NJ, aside from dumpy areas where you do not want to live.
Cliffside Park would be closer than Montclair and is worth a look. Fort Lee as well. Decent nightlife options in both of those towns. Cliffside Park is quite diverse between Russian and other Eastern European, Turkish, Italian, Asian, and Hispanic populations. Fort Lee is known as a major Koreatown but also has large Hispanic and Russian, Eastern European, and Turkish. Decent Jewish populations in both towns. For you, I think Cliffside Park may be better because it’s a little more affordable. Englewood is a little further away but also pretty happening. Demographics there are a little different...larger black population and a growing Orthodox Jewish community as well. All three towns have great downtowns and respectable nightlife options for suburbs. I’d also throw Palisades Park in there, which is the most heavily Korean of all of them...to the point that if you don’t really enjoy Korean food and culture so much, you should probably stay clear because it is VERY dominant there.
Hoboken and Jersey City downtown would be the best in terms of walkability with nightlife scene. The cons are they're expensive and the commute to Moonachie will be doable but annoying. Also, you will most likely have to add on a premium cost for monthly parking since you need a car for that commute. They're probably your ideal environment but almost definitely out of your budget range unless you find roommates.
Fort Lee is quite diverse with a sizable East Asian population. Even the types of Asians in Fort Lee are growing in diversity - used to be mainly Japanese or Korean, but now there are Chinese and others as well. Important to note that it has its fair share of 2nd and 3rd generation Asian-Americans so you may go to some bars and notice a lot of Asian faces but hear mostly English. There are of course other bars where you'll see more diversity as well. There are a lot of young professionals in Fort Lee and if anything, that demographic is growing rapidly. Apartments can be found towards the upper limit of your budget but will require a bit of hunting.
Cliffside Park is a smaller town with an old school downtown feel. The walkability on depends where in CP you live. There's a lot you can walk to, but not a lot of "nightlife" to walk to. There's Sedona Taphouse and Loft, and there are some good restaurants but I wouldn't say it's a long strip of barhopping opportunities. However, it's next to Edgewater and Fort Lee so they're short Uber/Lyft rides away. It's also next to North Bergen so you'd be close to a nice big park, with some good restaurants and bars there. You can probably find an apartment within your budget.
Palisades Park is an interesting suggestion. For a tiny town, it has a lot of walkability and nightlife. Yes it's overwhelmingly Korean, but even amongst the bars/pubs you'll find that actual "bar area" of the establishment is where the English-speaking patrons gravitate. Palisades Park has a pretty decent commute to Moonachie as well, and you can most likely find a decent apartment within your budget (possibly a very large studio, a 1br, or even a small 2br if you're lucky).
I don't recommend Hoboken or Jersey City. I lived there for many years and it's so congested that it can take 20 minutes or more just to get out of those places and onto the highway. Add to the fact that parking is very expensive and street parking is extremely difficult.
As I always tell everyone, just live wherever is going to give you the easiest and shortest commute. You have to commute to work every day. It's not like you're going to be going out to bars every night so there is no need to live in the middle of nightlife. You can always go to those places on the weekends and save yourself the commuting headache.
I don't recommend Hoboken or Jersey City. I lived there for many years and it's so congested that it can take 20 minutes or more just to get out of those places and onto the highway. Add to the fact that parking is very expensive and street parking is extremely difficult.
As I always tell everyone, just live wherever is going to give you the easiest and shortest commute. You have to commute to work every day. It's not like you're going to be going out to bars every night so there is no need to live in the middle of nightlife. You can always go to those places on the weekends and save yourself the commuting headache.
This might be the only time I even HALF agree with you.
OP, if you're working in Moonachie/Carlstadt, I'm assuming you will be driving to work. If so, consider that street parking is absolutely horrific in JC and Hoboken. That said, if you can find a parking garage to park in, that will end your parking worries, but it will lower your rent budget.
JC and Hoboken are the places to be for a single 29 year old female. However, some of that energy is dispersing up into Union City and Weehawken now. Again, parking sucks there, but rent is cheaper so you can possibly afford a parking garage. Traffic is traffic. Yes, Hudson County traffic sucks, but to many people (including me) the Hudson County traffic is worth living in such an urban location with easy proximity to Manhattan and all the bars and restaurants within walking distance or a short public transit ride. And don't listen to people who say Union City is bad. It's not. It just has a lot of minorities, which to a lot of people on this thread equates to a bad neighborhood.
Living in Union City or Weehawken gives you access to the Hudson Bergen Light Rail so that you can easily get to Hoboken or Jersey City for the restaurants and nightlife without using your car.
Your budget in JC will likely put you in a not-so-great area, but I wouldn't rule out Jersey City Heights. Some parts are walking distance to Hoboken down some steps or an elevator or you can take the light rail from there also. Buses are everywhere up there. And JC city govt is establishing its own private bus system to better serve the Heights and other neighborhoods. Again, though, you will likely need to find a place with parking since street parking there is horrible.
Of the neighborhoods you mentioned, Montclair and North Arlington are the two best options for a young single person. Both have worse public transit and walkability compared to JC, Hoboken, UC and Weehawken. But Montclair is on a train line to Manhattan at least. If North Arlington had a train stop, I think it would be one of the top suburbs in the state for someone who wants urban life, yet a more residential feel plus easy access to Manhattan. Lyndhurst is nice too, but AFAIK, North Arlington has more to do. I'm unfamiliar with Rutherford so I won't comment.
JC and Hoboken are the places to be for a single 29 year old female. However, some of that energy is dispersing up into Union City and Weehawken now. Again, parking sucks there, but rent is cheaper so you can possibly afford a parking garage. Traffic is traffic. Yes, Hudson County traffic sucks, but to many people (including me) the Hudson County traffic is worth living in such an urban location with easy proximity to Manhattan and all the bars and restaurants within walking distance or a short public transit ride.
This. Nowhere in NJ, not even really Montclair or Morristown, truly compares to Hoboken and JC in terms of an expansive downtown urban feel and organic nightlife. Even Hoboken and JC would be considered "local laidback night" options (albeit great ones) when compared to a night out in Manhattan. Both have the advantage of being a short subway ride (PATH) from Manhattan to give you a similar experience to living in a NYC borough like Queens or Brooklyn, from this side of the Hudson. Montclair, Morristown, and other places have pretty vibrant downtowns but to a single 29 year old prioritizing walkability and nightlife - they'll feel akin to a limited oasis in the middle of family-friendly suburbia.
This. Nowhere in NJ, not even really Montclair or Morristown, truly compares to Hoboken and JC in terms of an expansive downtown urban feel and organic nightlife. Even Hoboken and JC would be considered "local laidback night" options (albeit great ones) when compared to a night out in Manhattan. Both have the advantage of being a short subway ride (PATH) from Manhattan to give you a similar experience to living in a NYC borough like Queens or Brooklyn, from this side of the Hudson. Montclair, Morristown, and other places have pretty vibrant downtowns but to a single 29 year old prioritizing walkability and nightlife - they'll feel akin to a limited oasis in the middle of family-friendly suburbia.
I think with the way things are now, living in Jersey City/Hoboken is pretty much the same as living in Brooklyn and Queens, except it's like living off a ****ty train line.
So basically, if you live there ... you live in NYC. For all practical purposes of a young person looking for fun.
If you live in Cliffiside Park, or Montclair? Totally different.
I think with the way things are now, living in Jersey City/Hoboken is pretty much the same as living in Brooklyn and Queens, except it's like living off a ****ty train line.
So basically, if you live there ... you live in NYC. For all practical purposes of a young person looking for fun.
If you live in Cliffiside Park, or Montclair? Totally different.
Your trade off with living in JC/Hoboken over BK/Queens is you may be living off a somewhat worse subway line, but the ride is almost always shorter into Manhattan than from most of the outer boroughs, plus no city income tax, plus the rentals are still usually cheaper and likely have better amenities if they're not a unit within a home.
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.
