Commute from New York, NY to Greenwich, CT area? (New Rochelle: neighborhoods, salary)

[superiorturkey]

I am pondering taking a job in Manhattan that pays about $50k a year.
Since the Manhattan area is very expensive, I've thought about possibly living in the Stamford/Greenwich CT area. How long is the commute in rush hour (early morning and late afternoon) from there to Manhattan? About an hour or so?
Also, I'm worried that Stamford/Greenwich might be a "quiet, boring" type of town. I'm young and am definitely into the social/night life scene but want to live in a desirable neighborhood where I can reasonably be able to afford it and still be kind of close to the social/night life scene.
With that being said, I'd like to live no more than 40 miles from my potential job in Manhattan.

If that part of CT is too far and/or too expensive, what other options are also suitable?
Living in the Long Island areas such as Massapequa or Great Neck? How is the commute from those areas to Manhattan?
Or living in New Jersey? I do hear that the tolls are very expensive entering NY from NJ, so that might not work out for me.

Any helpful insights or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks

[rlrl]

how about Southern Westchester like Pelham, Fleetwood in Mt Vernon, suburban New Rochelle, Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Crestwood, Tuckahoe, some of those towns use the same train line as Conn does (tho there are usually parking issues in many of those towns) youll be closer to the city than in Conn and you can go to the city for nightlife or to White plains

Greenwich is about a 35 mile trip from midtown Manhattan, the Westchester towns are about 20-25

[jcoltrane]

Door to door, it s/b roughly 90 minutes. There is a local and a limited/express (commuter train) which cuts 15 minutes or so.

Greenwich and Massapequa are rather different. Great Neck is closest, but your choices are ALL over the map! As if you threw darts on a map.

All are very suburban, and 40 miles is way too far, if you want to spend your leisure time in NYC.

Also, I suspect you have the idea of commuting by car, correct? You won't be able to afford doing so on $50K salary.

[jeffcon0]

Talk about going from the frying pan to the fire! Yes, Manhattan is expensive but the towns you mention, particularly Greenwich, is one of the toniest towns in all of the US (Great Neck isn't far behind). Even if you're commuting via Metro North or LIRR the monthly pass will chew up a 50k salary quite quickly.

You're young and want somewhere close to Manhattan? Why not Brooklyn or Queens which is where most other young people with similar salaries would want to look. You won't be able to swing the prime neighborhoods but places like Bay Ridge, Kensington, Sunnyside, Rego Park, etc. are also nice options with better commutes and more happening than the burbs.

I'd seriously consider dropping the car entirely as it would be prohibitively expensive to commute into the city by car.

[bmwguydc]

If you are considering living outside the city, I would look to New Jersey, and in Westchester, White Plains, before I would look to Fairfield County. Areas in NJ have relatively easy transportation to Manhattan, and White Plains has express trains to Grand Central. Both would have more abundant things to to locally for a single person than would Greenwich or Long Island. For NJ, you want to have access via PATH train or bus, since parking would be very expensive, not to mention tolls, on a daily basis. You could also look at somewhere reasonable, such as Fort Lee, and take the bus across the George Washington Bridge to the subway. You could drive from Fort Lee, but tolls and parking would eat up any savings you would find with less expensive rent.

[South CT]

Why is CT so boring?? What are you looking to do? Get coked up and got to a rave every night until 4 in the morning?

...and by the way, good luck if you can afford any property in Greenwich. If you are only going to be beginning a career, you should know you will have to work your way into a nice town closer to the city. You can start off in Norwalk or Bridgeport. They are working class cities but you may be able to afford them at $50,000. You need to work hard to get to Greenwich if you weren't born there.