Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New Jersey
 [Register]
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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
 
Old 08-10-2016, 07:52 PM
 
5 posts, read 9,755 times
Reputation: 11

Advertisements

My husband and I are NJ natives and currently live in Hoboken with our infant son. We are looking to move to the suburbs within the year. I'm looking for opinions on towns we are considering. They are:

Essex County: Bloomfield (Brookdale/Oak View), Caldwell, Glen Ridge, Maplewood, North Caldwell, Roseland, South Orange, West Caldwell, Verona (NOT MONTCLAIR)

Morris County: Morristown, Morris Township

Union County: Cranford, Mountainside, Springfield, Westfield

I have been researching home prices and school information in these towns, but I don't actually know anyone who lives in most of them. I would love to hear from people who have lived in any of these towns and what you thought of them. I am especially in the dark about Bloomfield, the Caldwells and Roseland.

It's hard to know where we'd fit in and it's hard to tell that just from driving around a town. We are in professionals in our mid-30s, my husband is a creative professional, and both work full-time. We are fairly liberal but don't want to live where people are REALLY left-leaning, because I feel like excessive political correctness is stifling. I am also turned off by towns where everyone is born there, lives there forever, and isn't welcoming to newcomers. I want a friendly place! Diversity would be a plus, but we already have a diverse group of friends so that that isn't absolutely necessary. We are pretty laid-back and aren't keeping-up-with-the-Joneses types.

Ok, bring on the opinions/suggestions! Thanks!
Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-10-2016, 08:11 PM
 
10,219 posts, read 19,097,834 times
Reputation: 10880
Need to answer the sticky questions:

//www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...residents.html
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2016, 10:52 PM
 
2 posts, read 2,397 times
Reputation: 10
Hi. I live in Westfield and the town is great and the schools are as well. I have a 3 bedroom house for rent if you had any interest in moving to the town. We are 10 min walk to the train and right down the street from the memorial town pool. I moved here 16 years ago and we love the town and our location. We just are upgrading to a larger home. If you are interested let me know. 973-355-4892
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-11-2016, 07:24 AM
 
Location: Randolph, NJ
4,073 posts, read 8,941,687 times
Reputation: 3262
Quote:
Originally Posted by nybbler View Post
Need to answer the sticky questions:

//www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...residents.html
^^ This. Critical info to know to make any informed recommendation.

Also, why "NOT MONTCLAIR"? Understanding your strong aversion could help eliminate some other possibilities.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-11-2016, 07:48 AM
 
Location: NJ
4,940 posts, read 12,082,870 times
Reputation: 4562
Quote:
Originally Posted by HalfFull View Post
^^ This. Critical info to know to make any informed recommendation.

Also, why "NOT MONTCLAIR"? Understanding your strong aversion could help eliminate some other possibilities.
Also, why would you consider a town like Bloomfield, but not West Orange? West Orange is nicer and schools are much better than Bloomfield.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-11-2016, 07:59 AM
 
510 posts, read 495,558 times
Reputation: 1297
You may want to consider Little Falls (Passaic County) which is on the border of Essex County, neighboring Montclair and Cedar Grove. If your husband is in a creative profession he would fit in since the town has a surprising high amount of artists (graphic and your traditional arts) and the school district is big on theater. There is a good range of house styles and prices and the taxes are better than Essex county. Good transportation as well.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-11-2016, 11:04 AM
 
538 posts, read 725,960 times
Reputation: 535
My wife and I moved from the city to South Orange, and I'd say South Orange/Maplewood probably fits your bill - apart from the 'extra lefty' perspective - which is perhaps a tad worse in Maplewood, but for the most part the people in the towns aren't substantially different from each other. Ajoining areas of West Orange could be good as it's sort of in between this community and the more 'standard suburbia' towns like Livingston. Generally, and especially out in the burbs the 'creative professional' demographic and the 'liberal blowhard' demographic overlap. For the record, I'm extremely liberal, but I try not to be a blowhard!
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-11-2016, 11:41 AM
 
Location: NJ
4,940 posts, read 12,082,870 times
Reputation: 4562
Quote:
Originally Posted by qrysdonnell View Post
My wife and I moved from the city to South Orange, and I'd say South Orange/Maplewood probably fits your bill - apart from the 'extra lefty' perspective - which is perhaps a tad worse in Maplewood, but for the most part the people in the towns aren't substantially different from each other. Ajoining areas of West Orange could be good as it's sort of in between this community and the more 'standard suburbia' towns like Livingston. Generally, and especially out in the burbs the 'creative professional' demographic and the 'liberal blowhard' demographic overlap. For the record, I'm extremely liberal, but I try not to be a blowhard!
I would say Montclair, West Orange, South Orange, Maplewood is like the capital of liberalism. I lean more conservative so maybe it's just my perspective. But just on my block alone there are several gay/lesbian couples, interracial couples, and and overall large mix of people that you don't typically see in other suburban areas. From a voting perspective everyone we know around here is Democrat.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-11-2016, 12:24 PM
 
510 posts, read 495,558 times
Reputation: 1297
Quote:
Originally Posted by ansky View Post
I would say Montclair, West Orange, South Orange, Maplewood is like the capital of liberalism. I lean more conservative so maybe it's just my perspective. But just on my block alone there are several gay/lesbian couples, interracial couples, and and overall large mix of people that you don't typically see in other suburban areas. From a voting perspective everyone we know around here is Democrat.
Honestly most of North Jersey (NYC Suburbs) is pretty liberal, you would need to move out to Sussex county before it really switches over to staunch conservative territory.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-11-2016, 12:54 PM
 
1,379 posts, read 1,718,694 times
Reputation: 1840
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taluffen View Post
Honestly most of North Jersey (NYC Suburbs) is pretty liberal, you would need to move out to Sussex county before it really switches over to staunch conservative territory.
Nah I would say Morris runs pretty red, although to be fair it's more about economic conservatism than social conservatism.
Quick reply to this message
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 update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New Jersey

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top