Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
East Hanover, Florham Park, Verona, Morris Plains, Madison are all great towns and there should be no reason why you won't meet others your age. Each have their own downtown area, some nice coffee shops, bars, food establishments... Morristown is great to visit, but not so sure I would want to live there... I prefer commuting to cities like that, not live in them.
Great! Thank you for all the help, everyone. The more information and opinions I can get, the easier the decision will be for me to make. After reading your comments, it seems like Hoboken and Jersey City are definitely out of the question. They seem like they would be too far of a commute and sound too expensive and congested for what I am looking for. Now I will have to decide between the other towns. Are there any towns or bad areas that I should stay away from?
Towns to avoid? Dover has some rough areas and is mostly hispanic...it's not bad compared to some of the region's more depressed cities, but probably not a top choice for living in Morris County. (Although even Dover now has expensive loft-style apartments). The north and west sides of Morristown are also not the best. Aside from that...the rest of Morris, northern Somerset, and western Essex are wealthy, safe, and beautiful, and any issues will be from traffic or boredom, not really from crime. If looking in Essex County, South Orange and most of West Orange are fine, East Orange and Orange are the one's you want to avoid. There really isn't any reason for you to look further east than those towns.
Try to spend a weekend up here and scout these towns out it out or google map street view. Talk to the local people and hear from them. I agree that living in NJ is very expensive, the saying goes "Once you move out of NJ it is very hard to move back in" I don't know what utilities cost where you are but I believe people pay close to $200 for internet, tv, and phone, oil heat is not cheep, for that matter heat is not cheep. If you can find a place that includes heat your good. When signing the lease agreements, make sure you have a trusted friend, who may be in law, look it over. I have friends who rent commercial and residential and sometimes there are parts (if living in a house type setting) where you are responsible for things like shoveling the drive way. Just food for though. You deff want a good landlord.
I know at 23, I would be excited to just live on my own and have a safe, large, warm place to call my own. Not to be the mom, but if you single, guys are a little different up here, and I'm not referring to the fist pumping at the clubs...lol.
I'm about to move into a new 1-bedroom apt in Essex county and signed up for Verizon FIOS. If you're building or apt has it; phone, internet, and tv will run about $100 per month after taxes and fees. Less if you cut out phone service(which you may not need if you have a cell phone) and opt for less premium channels, and sign up for a 2 year contract (save about $10 per month under contract).
Oil heat is definitely not cheap..electric heat is even worse. Cold water should be included in your rent already but you may want to check if the water heater is electric or gas. Also, find out if the cook range/oven is electric or gas. Electric will be more expensive in almost every case.
Id go with Montclair. Plenty of nightlife and restaurants. Easy access to NYC via train or bus. Close to Livingston.
If not Montclair, Morristown, South orange all seem like solid options as well. I would try to find something in the downtown areas so you can easily walk to bars and restaurants as well as transportation into NYC.
I am looking for a place where I can easily meet others around my age but isn't like a crazy college town and isn't too congested with people.
Everywhere in North Jersey is congested with people. It will be much different from what you're used to.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
