Family-Friendly Suburbs/Cities for Manhattan Workers (New York, York: middle-class, renting, low crime)

[tangodoodles]

Where do people who work in Manhattan generally live? I'm mainly talking about a white collar, upper-middle class (I'm speaking in terms of income, I swear I'm not trying to be elitist) worker with a family that wants to own a home. My uncle has a job offer in NYC that he's seriously considering but he and my aunt don't think they can afford to live in the city without renting. Their combined income is in the $150,000-$200,000 range I believe. They have three children under the age of ten and two dogs and they're used to having a backyard. So would that be one of the suburbs in New Jersey? Could you guys just throw out the names of a few places that come to mind? Obviously, low crime and good schools are preferred.

[Viralmd]

People live all over: Manhattan (although schools frequently dictate where people live) Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx, Westchester, New Jersey and Connecticut.

If they want a yard, I'd suggest NOT looking in Manhattan...It all depends on the length of commute that's tolerable.

[tangodoodles]

Originally Posted by Viralmd

People live all over: Manhattan (although schools frequently dictate where people live) Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx, Westchester, New Jersey and Connecticut.

If they want a yard, I'd suggest NOT looking in Manhattan...It all depends on the length of commute that's tolerable.

I'm thinking more suburb, suburbs kind of like where they live now in the central valley. I'm not sure about commute and if there are ways to commute other than by car, like a train or something? But it would be nice if the commute could be about 30 minutes or less.

[Viralmd]

Thirty minutes is HIGHLY unlikely in the NYC area.

Check the Westchester thread, the NJ threads and the Connecticut threads.

This area is NYC only.

[mead]

Where is the job? That will play a large role in determining where the person lives. For suburban trains Westchester and Fairfield Counties have their trains go to Grand Central Station while Long Island and New Jersey trains go to Penn Station.

[metropolistraffic]

Wait. Is it even possible to consider 150k to 200k to be "upper middle class" in terms of New York (Westchester, the city and even LI)?

[mead]

For a 2 income earner family with 3 kids? Thats more just average than anything. I feel guilty calling a 150k income middle-class, but in this area of the country thats about what it works out to.

With 150k a year you can afford a decent house in a decent town in the suburbs.

[tangodoodles]

Originally Posted by mead

For a 2 income earner family with 3 kids? Thats more just average than anything. I feel guilty calling a 150k income middle-class, but in this area of the country thats about what it works out to.

With 150k a year you can afford a decent house in a decent town in the suburbs.

That's true. They live in the Central Valley of California now and 150k-200k goes a lot further here than it will there. So, with that in mind I guess. Knowing them, they'd probably prefer to live in a suburb/area where they could take a train into the city.

[tangodoodles]

Originally Posted by mead

Where is the job? That will play a large role in determining where the person lives. For suburban trains Westchester and Fairfield Counties have their trains go to Grand Central Station while Long Island and New Jersey trains go to Penn Station.

I believe my uncle would be working in the Financial District, not sure if there are other names for it. Not sure where my aunt would be though. She might not even end up working in the city proper. She works in a lab in a hospital like with blood samples, I think she told me the name of the hospital she got a job at but I forgot it. I'm pretty sure it's in that general vicinity. Can't you take a train into the city and then the subway to a specific area?

[crisp444]

In the suburbs of NYC (NJ, LI, Westchester, SW CT) $150,000-$200,000 is WELL within the upper middle class. People need to take a look at the median incomes for suburban towns around here if they actually think that such a large salary is average. Even in the RICHEST of the suburbs that is the median income; true middle class suburbs have median family incomes of $50,000-$100,000. You will be able to find a very nice home within an hour commute of your office living on a salary that large; don't let people tell you otherwise.