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Don't know as much about Virginia but lived in a lot of different states, including South Jersey for 4 years. New Jersey has very quaint, beautiful landscapes. You don't pump your own gas there, a very old-fashioned touch. I loved how they had strict emissions laws for cars, felt like the air was cleaner. We do a lot of road/day trips and New Jersey is probably on the top of my list for places to go for a beautiful getaway. I would literally be shaking my head as we drove around seeing breathtaking landscapes all around. To me, it's the perfect place for a weekend vacation at a
Bed & Breakfast. Northern NJ is much busier area, but another nice feature about New Jersey is being centrally located, about an hour from Philadelphia or 2 hours to NYC. If it weren't for the higher cost-of-living I would consider living there.
I firmly believe that Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia have many more areas with "breathtaking" landscapes than New Jersey. In fact, I cannot think of one place in New Jersey where the landscape is even slightly "breathtaking." Of course, the lack of dramatic scenery in New Jersey is largely due to extremely high population density in the state coupled with relatively low-elevation landscape in most areas, most notably in the central and southern parts.
I firmly believe that Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia have many more areas with "breathtaking" landscapes than New Jersey. In fact, I cannot think of one place in New Jersey where the landscape is even slightly "breathtaking." Of course, the lack of dramatic scenery in New Jersey is largely due to extremely high population density in the state coupled with relatively low-elevation landscape in most areas, most notably in the central and southern parts.
I firmly believe that Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia have many more areas with "breathtaking" landscapes than New Jersey. In fact, I cannot think of one place in New Jersey where the landscape is even slightly "breathtaking." Of course, the lack of dramatic scenery in New Jersey is largely due to extremely high population density in the state coupled with relatively low-elevation landscape in most areas, most notably in the central and southern parts.
While it is a largely developed state, there are some areas that look just like that. Particularly, the area stretching from the Delaware Water Gap up through Stokes State Forest and High Point State Park. Basically, the northwestern quadrant that borders PA and NY. Here's an example from I-80. I'm sure there are more.
Virginia has UVA over Rutgers, nicer mountains and no real ghetto/poor cities. That’s where it ends.
New Jersey’s shoreline puts a wallop to Virginia. Virginia has good public schools in Fairfax and Loudon counties, NJ has them all over the state. Virginia has DC/Arlington/Alexandria for an urban experience, NJ has NYC(all by itself dwarfing all that Virginia has)/Philadelphia/Jersey City and Hoboken.
As for wealth. Per Capital is the better measure. Here are each states locals with per capital incomes > $60,000 in no particular order.
DC
1. Vienna
2. Oakton
3. McLean
4. Reston
5. Wolf Trap
6. Tysons
7. Lansdowne
8. Arlington
9. Alexandria
10.Floris
11.Franklin Farm
New Jersey
1. Tenafly
2. Alpine
3. Cresskill
4. Demarest
5. Norwood
6. Rockleigh
7. Old Tappan
8. Woodcliff Lake
9. Upper Saddle River
10. Saddle River
11. Ho Ho Kus
12. Ridgewood
13. Allendale
14. Ramsey
15. Glen Rock
16. Oradell
17. Edgewater
18. Franklin Lakes
19. Wyckoff
(and that’s just Bergen County)
You guys are bringing up median incomes a lot. Thats definitely going against NJ even though you all are trying to justify it as a positive of the state. Nj is incredibly expensive and property taxes are you mortgage 2.0... the wages/incomes in NJ dont outpace VA in COL. Stop bringing that up
I'd say the NJ suburbs to NY/Philly and the DC suburbs on NOVA are about a tie and it probably comes down to personal preferences. While the taxes are high in NJ, its actually one of the most affordable COL locations in the NY tri-state area. I would say the NJ shore to visit is overall nicer and more easily accessible than the VB area is, though the NJ beach areas are not as livable from an all year round perspective due to slightly colder off season weather and the fact that there isn't an large MSA comparable to Norfolk/VB. Imo Virginia wins handily in higher education and its mountains as NJ, while it does have many areas of scenic beauty particularly along the PA border, it does not have anything that compares to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Richmond is also a much nicer capital city than Trenton. Its a closer comparison than you'd think but Virginia is a much bigger state and probably offers more variability in lifestyle QOL overall. Having said that I could see why some people would prefer to live in NJ and NJ is a great place to live and raise a family.
I'd say the NJ suburbs to NY/Philly and the DC suburbs on NOVA are about a tie and it probably comes down to personal preferences. While the taxes are high in NJ, its actually one of the most affordable COL locations in the NY tri-state area. I would say the NJ shore to visit is overall nicer and more easily accessible than the VB area is, though the NJ beach areas are not as livable from an all year round perspective due to slightly colder off season weather and the fact that there isn't an large MSA comparable to Norfolk/VB. Imo Virginia wins handily in higher education and its mountains as NJ, while it does have many areas of scenic beauty particularly along the PA border, it does not have anything that compares to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Richmond is also a much nicer capital city than Trenton. Its a closer comparison than you'd think but Virginia is a much bigger state and probably offers more variability in lifestyle QOL overall. Having said that I could see why some people would prefer to live in NJ and NJ is a great place to live and raise a family.
Agreed except for the higher education part. UVA/William and Mary vs Rutgers/Princeton.
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