Is it cheaper to live in PA vs NJ?

[MoorestownResident]

Gladwyne, Villanova are nothing but estates and they have almost no - or at least comparatively little - housing stock outside of it. Almost all NJ towns have a mix of housing stock including Haddonfield, Moorestown, etc. But I stand by my statement that when looking at price per square foot you get more house in PA than NJ. The tax structure in PA is far lower than NJ, when you add it all up, PA is going to be cheaper - for comparable towns. Anything west of the Delware is going to be less, it is not in the heart of the northeast corridor, near the major highways or close to the shore. R/E is ALL about location.

[VeradoDan]

Originally Posted by USER876

Def cheaper, my friend lives in Landsdale, PA 2500 SF colonial in a nice planned community near all the stores and restaurants you will ever need, half acre of property, homes are in the low 400's and property taxes are under 5K. They work in Philly (40 min commute) and make NYC salaries. The same home/neighborhood 40 mins outside NYC would be 650-800K+ with 12-15K taxes.

Well, FWIW, I live about 50 minutes from Philly, and my property taxes are about $5K. Houses in my 'hood near the water here are always going to be more, but you could grab something in the $350-450K range a few miles inland.

As much as we (legitimately) complain about taxes, there ARE areas of New Jersey where they're not terrible. For people not hamstrung to NYC for their career, with no need to live in the North Jersey counties, there are arguably nicer areas where you get more for your money and taxes are much more down to Earth.

[VeradoDan]

Also, has anyone who works in Philly looked to Delaware as a place to live? Traffic is bad heading down I-95, but it's not a TERRIBLE commute compared to some.

[sj08054]

Delaware would not be a good choice if you have kids. You can in the PA side and look at area like Chadds Ford but taxes aren't cheap down there either.

[mom2cjj]

We moved from Dayton, NJ to Bethlehem Township, PA four years ago. My husband worked (at the time) in Branchburg, NJ so the commute was the same from both places.

Our house in dayton was 1800 sq. ft. and we bought it for 345K. It was on about 1/4 acre. Our taxes were $5500 at the time. Our house here is 2200 sq. ft and we now have a finished basement (not included in the 2200) and a 5th bedroom that is not included as well. We have 1/4 acre here as well. Our taxes are $4,000 here. Our house we had built cost us $280K. It really was a no brainer for us. Much more house for our buck and we haven't regretted it at all. We love this area!

[frankgn87]

coming from Philly(I can speak from experience), you are correct. With the city wage and high cars insurance in Philly, NJ is cheaper for us

Originally Posted by NatasNJ

I can see PA being cheaper than many pockets of North Jersey.
I just don't see PA being a much cheaper option than the NJ subarbs to Philadelphia.
But people make it seem so obvious that PA is so much cheaper. I don't see it.

[sam23]

Reasons why......

Fixed income tax of 3 percent no matter how much money you make. You could be bringing home $245,000 a year and still pay the fixed 3 percent. Where in NJ it's a tiered income tax rate. The more you make the more your taxed. In NJ that same $245,000 a year may be taxed at 8,11, or 12 percent.

The town I live in PA, the taxes haven't gone up in 10 years. Much more transparent local government, where meetings are televised. Does that happen in NJ?

Govt. employees in turn don't earn as high salaries. A cop in a town in NJ may start at $50k/yr. In PA maybe $39/yr.

Look at the size of PA, its like 3 or 4 NJ's in one. The citizens of far Western PA have a totally different mindset than the ones in Eastern PA who tend to be a lot of ex New Jerseyans and New Yorkers. This change in demographic means a higher population which changes the tax structure and drastically different political views. Out West staunch republicans, in the East, a variety of political views.

No street lights-save $$$$$$.

Less corrupt government, minimal abuse costs past on to residents.

Food, clothing etc. tends to be the same price, but overall a better quality of life.

Corporate taxes are lower for people looking to start a business.

Taxes in NJ on same size house are $6,000/yr in PA $3300/yr

[sam23]

Originally Posted by mom2cjj

We moved from Dayton, NJ to Bethlehem Township, PA four years ago. My husband worked (at the time) in Branchburg, NJ so the commute was the same from both places.

Our house in dayton was 1800 sq. ft. and we bought it for 345K. It was on about 1/4 acre. Our taxes were $5500 at the time. Our house here is 2200 sq. ft and we now have a finished basement (not included in the 2200) and a 5th bedroom that is not included as well. We have 1/4 acre here as well. Our taxes are $4,000 here. Our house we had built cost us $280K. It really was a no brainer for us. Much more house for our buck and we haven't regretted it at all. We love this area!

No brainer I see. As much as people don't realize it housing costs mean alot when raising a family. Who wants to be house poor?

[frankgn87]

While house hunting in Bucks, Montgomery counties in pa and Burlington county in nj, we found that the property taxes were very similar for the same size/cost houses. For example, for a $300k home in nj we are paying 5200 a year taxes.. In Feasterville pa we almost purchased a $280k home (much smaller then the one in NJ we have) and the taxes were 5000 a year.. So don't get to caught up in th erwhole "NJ has much higher property taxes' thing. because its not always true. It may be true overall NJ is higher but you have to shop around

Originally Posted by sam23

Reasons why......

Taxes in NJ on same size house are $6,000/yr in PA $3300/yr

[lmbgm]

I think it depends on where you work or how long you are willing to commute.

But if you ignore that, then I think PA is cheaper because of taxes.
I'm talking about philly. I can look in the PA or NJ suburbs and find similar houses selling at similar prices, but the taxes will be twice as high or more in NJ. Assuming you're making more than 50k/yr, your income tax will probably be lower in PA too. Assuming you arent actually in philly paying the wage tax.

Ofcourse it varies depending on which town you're in and what kind of deals you can find. But because of the property tax and the income tax, I think PA is generally cheaper

Now if you include the employment location, then there's tolls and gas, etc.