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I'd just like to add to this...I started off making $50k/yr and lived in hoboken. rents are higher now than they were then, but i was saving a nice chunk of change in my 401k and cash savings, and was going out virtually every friday and saturday night. $60k won't be a problem, especially if he has a roomate.
that said...for the commute reasons, i wouldn't advise the OP to live in Hoboken.
I agree with your salary point - I started out making $25K per year and lived in Hoboken for 6 years. Granted this was around 2000. You don't need to be a seasoned professional to live in Hoboken.
The commute to Piscataway seems like it'd be pretty tough, but plenty of people in this area have awful commutes. That said, the OP does have options. New Brunswick has a huge undergrad population, some grads, and some professionals. A lot of college bars, but also some that cater to a slightly older crowd downtown. Mix of housing options ranging from walkups in Highland Park to new high rises in downtown NB. The latter might be too pricey, but I feel like one's dollar goes a lot further in New Brunswick than Hoboken, especially when transportation costs are factored in. Another option is Morristown. While it's a village not a city like Hoboken, it has a decent downtown restaurant/bar district, I think it's second to Hoboken in liquor licenses in a square mile area. However, downtown Morristown has a lot of expensive luxury buildings, and much of the employment in town comes from the law firms, so the in-town crowd can be a bit wealthy and older. The bars fill up with 20-somethings from the surrounding area, not sure how many actually live in Morristown. On the plus side, direct rail access to NYC, and a pretty short drive to Piscataway on 287.
All that being said, neither Morristown nor New Brunswick has the urban feel of Hoboken, or as easy access to NYC. A decent compromise might be Jersey City, where the housing is a bit cheaper, the parking more plentiful, but you'd still have a decent local bar/restaurant scene and be a short trip to Hoboken.
To the OP, please PM me if you really want a first hand experience. I lived in Hoboken and commuted to Monmouth County, and it would take 50 - 60 min. Hoboken is a great community. Monmouth County is further away than Piscataway, so the longest it would take is 50 min with all normal conditions. The commute isn't bad at all, trust me. It doesn't take that long to get out of Hoboken, I don't know what these people are saying. If you lived downtown by the path, it would take 5-10 min tops for you to get out of Hoboken in the morning, and on your way. I know you have no idea about the Pulaski Skyway, and you shouldn't. You don't take that way to get to Piscataway. You would get out of Hoboken, and go towards the Turnpike but don't get on it just go to the Exit 14 right before the turnpike south entrance. Google map it and you will see, what Im talking about. Also any of those other towns they mentioned is not Hoboken, and not even close to it. I wouldn't even consider any of them. In hoboken you can stay there or just hop on the path and be in the city in 10 min. All those other towns it will be such a hassle to get in and out of the city with worrying about train times, if your drunk still got to get home from the train or bus station, a lot longer to get to nyc, etc. With 60 k you can easily live in Hoboken, and have a great time.
I agree with your salary point - I started out making $25K per year and lived in Hoboken for 6 years. Granted this was around 2000. You don't need to be a seasoned professional to live in Hoboken.
yeah. mine was june 2004. my portion of rent was $800 for my first year. then I moved into an apartment with my now-wifey, and was paying around $1100. i parked on the street for year one, but didn't have to drive to work so it wasn't a hassle. year 2 we got a place with a parking spot. we were paying way more rent than we needed to, but my wife kinda needed a parking garage in the building because of her odd hours. so when you're looking at places with garages, you automatically get a bunch of other stuff.
$50,000/yr to me was a boatload of money, but I did know people who struggled off similar salaries. so...everyone is different i guess. i look back and feel like i wasted a ton of cash on going out and other junk. but i still managed to save quite a bit those first few years. so $60k now, i don't think would be a problem.
To the OP, please PM me if you really want a first hand experience. I lived in Hoboken and commuted to Monmouth County, and it would take 50 - 60 min. Hoboken is a great community. Monmouth County is further away than Piscataway, so the longest it would take is 50 min with all normal conditions. The commute isn't bad at all, trust me. It doesn't take that long to get out of Hoboken, I don't know what these people are saying. If you lived downtown by the path, it would take 5-10 min tops for you to get out of Hoboken in the morning, and on your way. I know you have no idea about the Pulaski Skyway, and you shouldn't. You don't take that way to get to Piscataway. You would get out of Hoboken, and go towards the Turnpike but don't get on it just go to the Exit 14 right before the turnpike south entrance. Google map it and you will see, what Im talking about. Also any of those other towns they mentioned is not Hoboken, and not even close to it. I wouldn't even consider any of them. In hoboken you can stay there or just hop on the path and be in the city in 10 min. All those other towns it will be such a hassle to get in and out of the city with worrying about train times, if your drunk still got to get home from the train or bus station, a lot longer to get to nyc, etc. With 60 k you can easily live in Hoboken, and have a great time.
Just an FYI.
Grove st, Newport or Exchange pl areas of JC are just as easy to get to the city if not easier. It really depends where you will live. I lived at 10th and willow and moved to a place right at the grove st path which was closer to downtown hoboken and quicker getting in and out of the city. And my rent was cheaper, the place was bigger and i had easy parking. So, OP just keep all that in mind. But if your going to do the boken, make sure your downtown so you can get out of hoboken quicker. and budget for a parking space as street parking if your getting back to town around 6:30ish will be tough(you might spend 30 mins looking for parking).
To the OP, please PM me if you really want a first hand experience. I lived in Hoboken and commuted to Monmouth County, and it would take 50 - 60 min. Hoboken is a great community. Monmouth County is further away than Piscataway, so the longest it would take is 50 min with all normal conditions. The commute isn't bad at all, trust me. It doesn't take that long to get out of Hoboken, I don't know what these people are saying. If you lived downtown by the path, it would take 5-10 min tops for you to get out of Hoboken in the morning, and on your way. I know you have no idea about the Pulaski Skyway, and you shouldn't. You don't take that way to get to Piscataway. You would get out of Hoboken, and go towards the Turnpike but don't get on it just go to the Exit 14 right before the turnpike south entrance. Google map it and you will see, what Im talking about. Also any of those other towns they mentioned is not Hoboken, and not even close to it. I wouldn't even consider any of them. In hoboken you can stay there or just hop on the path and be in the city in 10 min. All those other towns it will be such a hassle to get in and out of the city with worrying about train times, if your drunk still got to get home from the train or bus station, a lot longer to get to nyc, etc. With 60 k you can easily live in Hoboken, and have a great time.
My wife commuted from Newark/Jefferson to Kearny NJ every day from 2005-2010. She had to be there by 9am, so she was leaving during prime time congestion. It would take her about 20 minutes to get to work, with 15 of those being spent getting basically to the 1&9/139 tunnel.
When I was going to a client in Piscatway, it would take me about 50 minutes if I left between 7am-7:45am. But once it got to be closet to 8am, that corner of hoboken starts to back up a lot. They've done some traffic control measures down there so it might be a lot better now, but that was my personal experience.
While you do not take the Pulaski Skyway to Piscataway, it's in the general area of the route you would take leaving Hoboken to go to Piscatway
Here is the exact route i took. Google is saying 43 minutes with no traffic. and you're right, more often than not it'll probably be that. if you live in the southwest corner of Hoboken. https://maps.google.com/maps?gl=us&h...35606111579915
The key is, no one really knows what the Pulaski construction will do. Maybe it will push more traffic to the north end of hoboken. maybe it will push more traffic to 78/95. But it's guaranteed to cause a backup of some sort in that massive Jersey Ave/Holland Tunnel section.
Morristown is often referred to as "hoboken west". it's not hoboken, for sure, but it's got a good night life. trains in and out of the city are pretty regular, but late night, you have to pay attention. granted, late night in hoboken, the PATH runs every 30-40 minutes. so you have to pay attention to that also.
but overall, i generally agree. i just think you're being a tad optimistic.
my commute to Monmouth U when they were a client was actually easier than Piscataway...but i forget why.
Maybe in Piscataway you went through a lot of lights, while Long Branch (Monmouth U) parts of it is right off the parkway (exit 105). I just know if you want NYC to be part of your nightlife sometimes, then Hoboken and some parts of JC is the spot. I do love Morristown and all the stuff around that circle, but its till 40 min away from nyc and has a family town feel to it. Maybe I am bias, but if your choosing between JC and Hoboken and all things are equal I would choose Hoboken 9 out of 10 times. Even if the rent is a couple of bucks higher in Hoboken, make up for it by pregaming a little more rather than buying a ton of drinks at the bar. If your going to do Jersey city then def do not live in Newport section. You will feel wayyyy out of your element, and won't believe you're in jersey.
I love Hoboken and lived there for many years and there isn't any other place in NJ I'd want to live if I was 22. With that said its very congested and traffic can be a problem at times in that area. As far as getting out of Hoboken in 5 minutes, that's a stretch. It might take you 10 minutes to walk to your car depending on where you parked the night before.
It might take you 10 minutes to walk to your car depending on where you parked the night before.
Don't forget the extra minute or two to do the obligatory walk-around/inspection to see how much body damage the car suffered during the previous night on the streets of Hoboken.
Just an FYI regarding why Piscataway might be worse than driving to mommouth.
287.
If he has to get on or off 287 to access the turnpike he will be sitting in traffic unles he doesn't work "normal" hours. It's horrible getting to an from the turnpike at "peak" hours.
I took the Pulaski and sometimes the Turnpike out of Hoboken. I think all roads will be affected with the Pulaski construction and will most likely add 15-30 minutes or more for traffic.
Don't get me wrong. I really enjoy living in Hoboken. There is a lot to offer. Billiard league on Wednesday. Dart League on Tuesday. Organized teams for kick ball etc. Wednesday night movies. Tons of bars/restaurants etc. But I want him to really know what he might experience if he does choose to move to Hoboken and commuting to Piscataway.
Also there are things I learned over the years living in Hoboken (and I'm sure I'm missing a lot still) and wanted to share so that he can weight options. If he can deal with the crazy traffic for the life of living in hoboken, then go for it.
These are things that I learned that I wish someone really told me about:
The towing and getting the boot thing - I had no idea. So make sure you get a parking permit which means you need to change your car registration and insurance. You could be shocked at how much that will cost depending on your car. If you DON'T have a resident permit, you cannot park on certain sides of the street - again, ticket, boot, and/or tow. And if you are a guest and do not have a guest permit, you can't park more than 4 hours.
If you plan on moving and have a truck, you may have to go to the parking authority and purchase a reserved parking spot. That's approximately 40 a day. Make sure you do it at least 72 hours before you plan on getting the spot and once you get it you may still have to call the police to get cars towed from the spot.
It gets really loud on the streets in the middle of the night. Make sure you aren't on the ground floor or below ground floor for saftey and flooding issues. So try to find a bedroom that isn't facing the street.
I had no idea about all those other fees that rentals charge for moving etc but those are good questions to ask when you are looking for a rental.
If he has the ability to come visit and do a trial run drive to piscataway one work day, that might help him really know if he can take 1+ hours driving every day. I couldn't do it, so I changed jobs. Now I'm 35 minutes away.
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