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I'd agree with this. While I would probably rank my personal favorites as Fairfield, Westchester, NJ, LI (saying this as a resident of NJ), it's really hard to rank. Schools are about the same across all of them - the blue ribbon towns will be amongst the best public schools in the country (this is true for all 4.) Despite my personal ranking, here are the areas where I do think NJ wins:
- Shopping: I'm shocked this one is even debatable
- Town Centers: While Fairfield has a handful of really nice ones (Westport, Fairfield, Dairen, New Cannan), I think NJ has more (Montclair, Maplewood, Ridgewood, Summit, Westfield, etc.), and that's not even including the larger ones like Morristown or Hoboken
- Accessability: From a location perspective, it is right in the middle of the NE Corridor with easy access to all of the major NE cities, as well as being close to BOTH ocean & mountains (LI arguably has better beaches, Westchester is slightly closer to Hudson Valley, but NJ has easy access to both)
- Restaurants: While certainly debatable, NJ has better food with destination cities like Montclair and Jersey City, as well as the one of the most diverse ethnic food scenes in the country (although LI is sneakily good here as well.) Westchester and Fairfield in particular cannot compete here.
I'll reiterate that I personally love the upscale country feel of Fairfield, and Westchester because it has pockets of seclusion that are a 35-minute train ride to Manhattan. These are just personal preferences of mine. But I think NJ is being sold quite short here overall.
Well LI would be best for a boat person I think.
NJ west of the 287 and north of Princeton is pretty Americana.
Westchester is probably the most “New York” of NYC suburbs, then
Nassau I guess.
Can’t help to feel like LI is going downhill slowly, compared to the rest of the metro.
Fairfield probably has the most genteel feeling. North and Central NJ aren’t a lot different, but they are distinguishable. North NJ being more aggressive and NYC like.
I personally like feeling central in location. Probably Summit, NJ would be the overall perfectly placed town in NJ or the whole metro for that matter.
The only segment of this region wherein the “Mary-marry-merry” merger is fully complete is Fairfield County. From my perspective as a professional salesperson, this is an important consideration, especially if you want to increase the likelihood of your children being more well-received in academic, professional and social settings as they age (both locally in the NYC area and nationally). In my opinion, the more neutral Western Connecticut accent would not necessarily “typecast” a person such as Long Island and New Jersey accents and dialects often do. Therefore, it provides the speaker with inherent advantages such as the ability to blend into a new company, neighborhood or social group on the other side of the country without experiencing reserve or suspicion from others (common sentiments directed towards newcomers or outsiders).
This post is bizarre to me. What percentage of the population even has identifiable accents anymore? I have lived in California, Chicago, Washington DC, and Texas, and nobody has ever guessed where I was from because of an accent.
I’m 50 years old, and typically, the only people I hear with NJ accents are my parents age or older, because they didn't watch nearly as much television or movies as we did growing up.
Cost of living: NNJ is more varied so it would accommodate more price ranges
Family: Totally depends on what you like doing with your family. I'd say Fairfield is the more quintessential "suburban family" looking place. But I'd personally choose NNJ because it has more things I'd prefer doing.
Jobs: For jobs in itself, NNJ. Not sure the others can compare to the job hubs of NNJ, but LI is pretty strong too. For access to Manhattan jobs, I'd probably say Westchester.
Schools: As long as you don't live in an economically depressed city, they're all very good at public schools and it's hard to beat any of these 4 across the country.
Hospitals: Tie I guess?
Transit/Infrastructure: Depends on your purposes for it. NJ roads are in terrible condition and I don't think a single interchange in the entire state actually makes logical sense. It's like the engineers and planners were chosen based on how difficult they could make every single interchange in the state, and the most complicated wins. I haven't driven enough in the others to know their roads. However, I'd give NNJ the top spot for urban infrastructure since no other state has anything that can match PATH. PATH, combined with the urban infrastructure in/around Hudson County is hard to beat. But, for commuting to NYC purposes, LI wins for having a couple destinations of LIRR. Westchester wins for not having to deal with Penn Station. Then for rail/airport, NNJ wins because Newark Penn is right on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and EWR is pretty easy to get to from all over the state. LI can be right on top of LGA or JFK, but the eastern edges of LI are far from anything.
Hurricanes/Flooding: I'm assuming Fairfield. It's further inland.
Safety: Fairfield?
Shopping: NNJ
Recreation: Depends on what your interests are. My recreation usually involves the beach or something urban, so NNJ. If you like hiking and things in mountains, probably NNJ or Westchester.
Well LI would be best for a boat person I think.
NJ west of the 287 and north of Princeton is pretty Americana.
Westchester is probably the most “New York” of NYC suburbs, then
Nassau I guess.
Can’t help to feel like LI is going downhill slowly, compared to the rest of the metro.
Fairfield probably has the most genteel feeling. North and Central NJ aren’t a lot different, but they are distinguishable. North NJ being more aggressive and NYC like.
I personally like feeling central in location. Probably Summit, NJ would be the overall perfectly placed town in NJ or the whole metro for that matter.
I agree with this person, Summit, Madison, Chatham areas are very very good with sense of community, charm and access to NYC.
The one thing that sucks about living on Long Island is getting off. You either have to go through traffic-choked routes in the city or take the expensive ferry up to Connecticut.
Depends on timing. I can probably get to Philadelphia faster than someone in Connecticut (by using the Outerbridge Crossing) and get to Boston faster than someone in South Jersey. The key is avoiding rush hour.
It takes me about 4 hours to get to Saratoga/Lake George (I avoid the Thruway through Rockland) from western Suffolk. It also takes me about 4 hours to get to Boston. That is hardly "trapped". Especially when you consider that I am right next to NYC and 3 major airports including JFK. Not to mention the ocean beaches.
Depends on timing. I can probably get to Philadelphia faster than someone in Connecticut (by using the Outerbridge Crossing) and get to Boston faster than someone in South Jersey. The key is avoiding rush hour.
It takes me about 4 hours to get to Saratoga/Lake George (I avoid the Thruway through Rockland) from western Suffolk. It also takes me about 4 hours to get to Boston. That is hardly "trapped". Especially when you consider that I am right next to NYC and 3 major airports including JFK. Not to mention the ocean beaches.
Well how often do you go to Boston or Lake George? Is it common or is it like a 'ugh damnit.. time to get off LI again''?
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