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If I could be that young again I think I'd go for Hoboken or Jersey City!
Why is Jersey City such a destination for 20 somethings on this forum? I seriously do not understand it? Why not throw in Kearny and Bayonne too while we are at it.
Why is Jersey City such a destination for 20 somethings on this forum? I seriously do not understand it? Why not throw in Kearny and Bayonne too while we are at it.
Just curious, have you spent much time in JC in the last 5 years or so?
If a 45 minute commute means a 45 minute door-to-door commute, then only 5 municipalities in New Jersey meet this requirement. All 5 are urban communities in Hudson County - Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City, and West New York.
That's certainly not so, though it depends on exactly where you're working. If it's 1 Penn Plaza for instance, that opens up a lot of options.
Just curious, have you spent much time in JC in the last 5 years or so?
I'm there multiple times per week. The only area in which most would consider "nice" is about a square mile (if that) downtown. You're gonna tell me the other 13.5 square miles is a good place for 20 somethings?
I'm there multiple times per week. The only area in which most would consider "nice" is about a square mile (if that) downtown. You're gonna tell me the other 13.5 square miles is a good place for 20 somethings?
Jersey City's downtown is about 1.5 square miles, which is actually a decent size for a downtown. All of Hoboken is only 1 square mile. Downtown areas of Morristown or New Brunswick or Red Bank are much smaller. Even Center City Philadelphia, one of the better urban areas in the Northeast, is under 3 square miles, and serves a city of 148 square miles, so Jersey City's 1.5 out of 14 is pretty good. If you take Jersey City's downtown combined with Hoboken, you get about 2-3 square miles within Hudson County's ~40 square miles. Plus you get the easy access to Manhattan.
Although I am now a 30-something, I can tell you why I loved J.C. (and still love it, even though I live in Hoboken now): walkability and bike-ability--I could get from Target, to the mall, to my child's pediatrician, to the dry cleaners, to several parks, to some great restaurants and bakeries, to the grocery store all without entering a car. And I really appreciated that. I lost most of my pregnancy weight just from doing my normal errands, but walking to them all with my baby.
It's for people who want to live in an urban environment--obviously, if having something like a backyard is more important than living in a walkable neighborhood, then JC is not for you.
JC has a nice mix of luxury properties, but also cheaper properties if you are willing to live just a bit outside of the most popular areas. You have your family-oriented white collar people in the high rises, you have your hipsters around grove street and outside the waterfront areas, there are a ton of great restaurants that are popping up with inventive cuisine and good I have a close friend who bought a 3 bedroom condo in a doorman building between Journal square and McGinley square for a steal 5 years ago and now she rents out the other 2 bedrooms and lives rent free.
I love that I can go to JSQ and get amazing south Indian food, go to a Filipino bakery, get some middle eastern halal food--jsq has it all. Some people (me) like to live in a culturally diverse place and prefer JC over towns that are further out but more white-bread. Nothing wrong with those towns, I grew up in a similar type of place. But it just isn't where I want to be a young family.
The best summer of my life was when I was living in JC and working at a summer program at a school in Hoboken, and my "commute" was a serene 15 minute bike ride along the waterfront every morning. There's nothing quite like cruising along at 7 am with a cup of coffee in your cupholder, the hudson river and the NYC skyline to your right, with the sun just starting to come up.
I think either my husband or I was out on the waterfront at least once a day to jog, stroll, bike. It's great.
Kind of the same reason I love living in Hoboken now as a young family--my entire building is full of other people about my age, most of them also couples with young kids. Super easy to make friends and connections.
Jersey City's downtown is about 1.5 square miles, which is actually a decent size for a downtown. All of Hoboken is only 1 square mile. Downtown areas of Morristown or New Brunswick or Red Bank are much smaller. Even Center City Philadelphia, one of the better urban areas in the Northeast, is under 3 square miles, and serves a city of 148 square miles, so Jersey City's 1.5 out of 14 is pretty good. If you take Jersey City's downtown combined with Hoboken, you get about 2-3 square miles within Hudson County's ~40 square miles. Plus you get the easy access to Manhattan.
Maybe you can split hairs and say 1.5 which i still doubt , however JC's downtown has areas that are still pretty rundown (Holland tunnel area) So we will go with 1 sqaure mile of actual desirable land.
Although I am now a 30-something, I can tell you why I loved J.C. (and still love it, even though I live in Hoboken now): walkability and bike-ability--I could get from Target, to the mall, to my child's pediatrician, to the dry cleaners, to several parks, to some great restaurants and bakeries, to the grocery store all without entering a car. And I really appreciated that. I lost most of my pregnancy weight just from doing my normal errands, but walking to them all with my baby.
It's for people who want to live in an urban environment--obviously, if having something like a backyard is more important than living in a walkable neighborhood, then JC is not for you.
JC has a nice mix of luxury properties, but also cheaper properties if you are willing to live just a bit outside of the most popular areas. You have your family-oriented white collar people in the high rises, you have your hipsters around grove street and outside the waterfront areas, there are a ton of great restaurants that are popping up with inventive cuisine and good I have a close friend who bought a 3 bedroom condo in a doorman building between Journal square and McGinley square for a steal 5 years ago and now she rents out the other 2 bedrooms and lives rent free.
I love that I can go to JSQ and get amazing south Indian food, go to a Filipino bakery, get some middle eastern halal food--jsq has it all. Some people (me) like to live in a culturally diverse place and prefer JC over towns that are further out but more white-bread. Nothing wrong with those towns, I grew up in a similar type of place. But it just isn't where I want to be a young family.
The best summer of my life was when I was living in JC and working at a summer program at a school in Hoboken, and my "commute" was a serene 15 minute bike ride along the waterfront every morning. There's nothing quite like cruising along at 7 am with a cup of coffee in your cupholder, the hudson river and the NYC skyline to your right, with the sun just starting to come up.
I think either my husband or I was out on the waterfront at least once a day to jog, stroll, bike. It's great.
Kind of the same reason I love living in Hoboken now as a young family--my entire building is full of other people about my age, most of them also couples with young kids. Super easy to make friends and connections.
great response, i REALLY want to do something similar to you. i was going to actually ask (as a late 20's year old) how living in Hoboken is in your 30's and if there is a "cut off" for how old you can be and enjoy living there. i am glad to see that you are liking it. i LOVE it there and kind of wish i had the opportunity as a single male to take advantage of it.
but as i have posted, the prices are pretty insane and if you AND significant other aren't both making 6 figures (of which we aren't, yet) i imagine it'd be pretty tough.
another obstacle i need to overcome is my gf is teaching in White Plains. that would be a rough commute unless she got a job in Northern NJ somewhere. i made another thread to discuss this.
great response, i REALLY want to do something similar to you. i was going to actually ask (as a late 20's year old) how living in Hoboken is in your 30's and if there is a "cut off" for how old you can be and enjoy living there. i am glad to see that you are liking it. i LOVE it there and kind of wish i had the opportunity as a single male to take advantage of it.
but as i have posted, the prices are pretty insane and if you AND significant other aren't both making 6 figures (of which we aren't, yet) i imagine it'd be pretty tough.
another obstacle i need to overcome is my gf is teaching in White Plains. that would be a rough commute unless she got a job in Northern NJ somewhere. i made another thread to discuss this.
That commute is horrible. I did it from Paramus for four years and almost went insane. The Tappen Zee Bridge is a disaster and on Fridays in the summer it is completely insane. The traffic begins before 1 p.m. on Fridays in the summer. It use to take me close to 3 hours to get back to Paramus. Also the Tap is notorious for some horrific car accidents.
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