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I am living in Jersey City with my family with kids. I am looking for places with a better quality of life (i.e. more space for my family than my current condo, safety, reasonable commute to NYC, a good school district and preferably (not mandatory) a walkable downtown and weekend family activities for kids). Many of my friends have moved to Texas, NC and other Southern states in the last two years (for the above reasons and warmer weather and better affordability). I am torn between moving to a Southern state or living in the NYM area. I work in Financial Services Tech Consulting so I can live in any town with an airport but I appreciate the career options provided by NYM. I also like the diversity, good public transport, many walkable neighborhoods and general welcoming environment of NY/NJ. I keep hearing from my friends that the 'North East quality of life sucks' but that seems to be a blanket statement. I believe there are areas in the North East with a good quality of life but I need to do more research and check out more places.
I would like some input on the below. I haven't lived in the US outside Jersey City so any insight is valuable :
1) What are some towns I can explore in the NY and NJ area that fits the above quality of life criteria? I can buy a house around a $1-1.1M range and also open to rent for an year to check out the area.
2) If there are people who have lived in NY/NJ and Southern states like TX/GA/AZ/FL/NC, I would like to hear their opinions on the pros and cons. I have also heard of people who came back to the North East after living in the South for a while, if you fit this case, it would be very valuable to know why you came back.
Ideally I would like to stay in the NYM area and not move unless the QoL in the South is significantly better at a cheaper cost (which I believe is also getting tougher with the huge run up in prices recently in the South especially in the good school districts), so your input on the above would be very useful.
I am living in Jersey City with my family with kids. I am looking for places with a better quality of life (i.e. more space for my family than my current condo, safety, reasonable commute to NYC, a good school district and preferably (not mandatory) a walkable downtown and weekend family activities for kids). Many of my friends have moved to Texas, NC and other Southern states in the last two years (for the above reasons and warmer weather and better affordability). I am torn between moving to a Southern state or living in the NYM area. I work in Financial Services Tech Consulting so I can live in any town with an airport but I appreciate the career options provided by NYM. I also like the diversity, good public transport, many walkable neighborhoods and general welcoming environment of NY/NJ. I keep hearing from my friends that the 'North East quality of life sucks' but that seems to be a blanket statement. I believe there are areas in the North East with a good quality of life but I need to do more research and check out more places.
I would like some input on the below. I haven't lived in the US outside Jersey City so any insight is valuable :
1) What are some towns I can explore in the NY and NJ area that fits the above quality of life criteria? I can buy a house around a $1-1.1M range and also open to rent for an year to check out the area.
2) If there are people who have lived in NY/NJ and Southern states like TX/GA/AZ/FL/NC, I would like to hear their opinions on the pros and cons. I have also heard of people who came back to the North East after living in the South for a while, if you fit this case, it would be very valuable to know why you came back.
Ideally I would like to stay in the NYM area and not move unless the QoL in the South is significantly better at a cheaper cost (which I believe is also getting tougher with the huge run up in prices recently in the South especially in the good school districts), so your input on the above would be very useful.
What about places in other parts of NY State or even in say PA, that are more affordable and have access to an airport?
I would say to look into places like Nyack, White Plains, Mamaroneck, Tuckahoe, Suffern, etc. in NY that offer diversity, walkability and good schools. You also have places further north in NY State in the Hudson Valley that have Metro-North train access nearby like Wappingers Falls, Washingtonville, Cornwall and Spackenkill, among others. Areas of NE Pennsylvania within an hour and a half of NYC like East Stroudsburg and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton are worth looking into. For instance, Easton has the Crayola Experience and it is right across the Delaware River from NJ(Phillipsburg).
If you don't mind further inland in the Northeast, look into suburbs of the bigger/generally mid sized areas that have airports. I'm thinking of areas like the bigger Upstate NY areas(Buffalo, Rochester, Albany and Syracuse), Harrisburg and even Pittsburgh, as they are more affordable to the point that they are on par with, give or take, as the areas of the South/West people are moving to. They are similar in population to many of the areas people move to as well. If interested, I can mention some specific parts of these Interior Northeastern areas later.
If looking for a nice balance of family-friendly, safe, quality public schools, some diversity, a walkable downtown area and a reasonable commute to NYC (around an hour via Amtrak).... check out Princeton and West Windsor Township NJ.
What about places in other parts of NY State or even in say PA, that are more affordable and have access to an airport?
I would say to look into places like Nyack, White Plains, Mamaroneck, Tuckahoe, Suffern, etc. in NY that offer diversity, walkability and good schools. You also have places further north in NY State in the Hudson Valley that have Metro-North train access nearby like Wappingers Falls, Washingtonville, Cornwall and Spackenkill, among others. Areas of NE Pennsylvania within an hour and a half of NYC like East Stroudsburg and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton are worth looking into. For instance, Easton has the Crayola Experience and it is right across the Delaware River from NJ(Phillipsburg).
If you don't mind further inland in the Northeast, look into suburbs of the bigger/generally mid sized areas that have airports. I'm thinking of areas like the bigger Upstate NY areas(Buffalo, Rochester, Albany and Syracuse), Harrisburg and even Pittsburgh, as they are more affordable to the point that they are on par with, give or take, as the areas of the South/West people are moving to. They are similar in population to many of the areas people move to as well. If interested, I can mention some specific parts of these Interior Northeastern areas later.
Before I add more, something to consider is that you do not have to spend $1 million dollars to get a big homes further inland. With that said, some places to look into are places like Sewickley outside of Pittsburgh, the village of Williamsville(inc. surrounding areas just outside of the village in the town of Amherst) and parts of Eggertsville(a cdp also in the town of Amherst) outside of Buffalo; the 12 Corners area of Brighton outside of Rochester; the DeWittshire/Orvilton area of the town of DeWitt or the village of Liverpool(inc. surrounding parts of the town of Salina) outside of Syracuse; Old Niskayuna in the town of Niskayuna next to Schenectady and its Upper Union neighborhood and parts of the Central Dauphin SD outside of Harrisburg like Paxtang, Penbrook, Progress, etc. There are others that could work for you, but keep in mind that relatively high end suburbs in these areas would allow you not to go that high in terms of budget for a home.
Also, keep in mind that access to the main city would be much easier due to the lack of serious traffic. So, that is something else to consider with these areas further inland.
So many great towns in North Jersey that fit your criteria. Ridgewood, Glen Rock and Morristown just to name a few.
Yup. Head on over to the NJ forum, plenty of recent discussing Bergen county. Budget is fine, only challenge is finding a house. They're still selling in hours...
In New Jersey go take a drive out to Morris County especially Madison, Chatham, Morristown and just drive thru all the towns and neighborhoods in the county and you may find what you’re looking for! I lived in Madison it was beautiful, safe and convenient to NJ transit. Good luck!
I recommend posting in the NJ forum and you will get a lot of options. I live in Madison and absolutely love it.
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