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North or South? There is a big difference. North is more densly populate, like New York City, and South is more farmy. I lived in South Jersey. We had many humid days and grey skys. Taxes and housing is quite high. 5th highest in the nation last time I checked. Crime is not bad, unless you are talking about Camden. Stay away from there.
I am [u]sooooooo!!!!![b] happy you feel my pain. There is certain towns I have to actullay be in the mood to go to for shopping because I'll have to deal with in inconcideration of certain people . not all though but a H--- of a lot.]
I'm actually your neighbor here in Monmouth. Born and raised in Jersey and I'm moving to NC this summer. Can't stand it anymore. To my dismay, apparently so are a lot of the very same people I'm moving away from!
I know exactly what you mean about the shopping. I now try to do most of mine as early in the morning as possible.
And what about are beaches? Why do they think the sand is one big ashtray? Don't even get me started. I could go on for pages.
Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of friends from NY-but there is a reason for the generalizations. The same reasons that Southerners hate us "Yankees". If you read some of the NC posts you won't believe how much anger there is down there. I can't blame them after watching my area change so much over the years! Blech-to say the least.
how much $ do you have? Nothing's inespensive in nj anymore. south jersey's the cheapest. flat but pretty. camden is the only bad area south of trenton. ne jersey is one huge metroplis. central jersey is nice, especially western and northwestern. not cheap tho. But the western part of the state is beautiful above trenton. trenton's not so good anymore. the people are jersey people-they can be friendly and caring. i find people are all warm beneath the surface.
Vineland, N.J. ranks among the 10 most affordable places to live in the united states and it is not overly populated. As said by others, south jersey differs dramatically from the north, but for suburbs so close to so many large cities, living expenses and housing are unusually low. Look into it.
I am a resident of Vineland and was raised here from 1976-1990. I can tell you that there's been a lot of change in the last twenty years. It can be a fairly nice area but I think it's beginning to have its problems that can't be solved except through pricing "undesirable" people out of the area (i.e. blockbusting).
The housing didn't climb as fast here as other areas, but the schools drove up the property taxes, like all NJ municipalities; tax bills of $4-$8,000 are the norm. NJ is a Union state & is full of corruption, no-bid contracts & kickbacks, the cost of which is borne by the privately-employed middle-class. Starting salaries for teachers in Vineland is $55k; don't let anyone give you the "poor teachers" routine. That's for ONLY 1,000 hours of work a SCHOOL year, Sept.-June; high school teachers only hold classes for 5 or 6 out of 9 periods (my mother is a h.s. teacher's aide). The state wastes money like it's water, or hands it out like candy to political cronies, and there's no oversight or accountability. Officials have become so brazen in their activities that the federal government has had to come in to clean things up on the State's behalf.
We are beginning to have crime from organized gangs (esp. Latin Kings), the traffic is getting worse and the area is getting very built-up: all the same things that drove us back to this area after living in Atlantic County for several years. Traffic is especially bad in summer from visitors coming through to the shore (via Route 55 & connecting roads - Delsea/47, etc.).
We have had a large influx of illegal immigrant workers and it seems like one out of every ten cars has Pennsylvania plates (translation: they are probably not licensed to drive in NJ & probably don't have auto insurance).
I understand from a friend who works in the public schools that Cumberland County has an extremely low (14%) post-secondary graduation rate. Translation: education is not a priority, literacy is not valued. Of all the new retail stores (Kohl's, Target, Michael's, Boscov's, etc.) not one of them was a book store and I don't expect us to get a Borders or B&N any time soon. There are few large companies to work at that require higher education. If you are a professional, you will have to drive an hour or more out of the area to the Cherry Hill or Atlantic City area to get a decent wage (which is then eaten up by commuting costs - never mind living half your life in your car.)
There's been an effort in Millville to revamp the downtown area with Arts grants & refurbishment of the facades & whatnot. It looks nice, but some of the businesses that bought into this two or three years ago have already folded & I am afraid it won't turn out be a long-term success.
Bridgeton, a formerly lovely and historical town, is plagued by an overwhelming influx of illegal immigrants living 20 to a house, high crime and poverty. Salem County is dying from lack of industry & commerce, and farms being turned into housing developments. Atlantic County is being gutted by extremes of Section 8 Housing or overpriced housing - nothing in-between. The people in Atlantic County are pretty rude & cranky, probably the result of working in the thankless industry of casinos. A fellow church member once told me how dissatisfied he was with his casino job; he said his only purpose was to take people's money, he didn't help anyone and he didn't produce anything of value. As a former secretary to a casino support business, I noticed it seems that anyone who is connected to the casino industry is miserable. And why not; this past Christmas eve, my boss was still trying to hash out details of a project at 7:30 pm - and there wasn't even a deadline involved!
In terms of friendliness, I would rate South Jersey counties this way:
Salem (best), Cumberland, Cape May, Atlantic (worst).
If you have to live in NJ, I could recommend South Jersey. But I would rather recommend PA, DE or MD.
My husband and I have had it with NJ taxes, attitudes, traffic and crime. And I'm starting to feel like an illegal alien in my own country. We're considering moving to Florida; at least it's got better weather down there with more IT jobs that aren't dependent on the government.
Last edited by midnightrose227; 11-04-2006 at 10:34 PM..
Reason: Info refined/added
Climate: warm summers, generally in the upper 80s, often humid. Winters the temps stay below freezing, occasionally dipping into the teens. There is a difference between north and south Jersey when it comes to snow; IMO Morris County and north of it gets more snow than the areas south of Morris County. Autumn brings beautiful foliage. Springs are cool and wet.
Crime: varies greatly depending on where you are. Overall NJ is very safe. Brick, in Ocean County, is frequently named one of the safest towns in the country. Off the top of my head, I would avoid Camden, Patterson, Newark. All the larger cities/towns will have their own less-desirable sections.
Jobs: overall the job market is very good here. NJ is known for IT, pharmaceudicals (sp), healthcare. If you let us know what field you are interested in, we could offer more advice. There are a lot of people who live in NJ but commute to NYC or Philly, however NJ still has its own strong job market.
People: diverse. We have people from all ethnic backgrounds. Overall this is a very liberal state and homosexuality, transsexuality, and interracial people/relationships are not just accepted but also not really a big deal.
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Jersey
