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Unless you're a millionaire living in one of those suuuper expensive towns and money just isn't an issue, north jersey is a horrible place to live.
I've lived in South Jersey in Burlington County, the middle of the state on the Bay in South Amboy, and in north jersey in Hoboken, Weehawken, worked in Carlstadt went to school in Hackensack..
Having experienced the whole state, I'm telling you North Jersey is just a horrid place to live. There's always traffic. Stores and parking no matter where you go are so crowded and frustrating. Seriously your costco on a tuesday afternoon is like our costco in south jersey on black Friday.
Everything is on top of each other, it's sooo overpriced.
You need to break free... the Bay area in South Amboy was okay, but south jersey is miles away better all around.
That is all, rant over...
I grew up in Burlington County and lived basically each part of the state since. North Jersey is very diverse such as south jersey. You cannot compare hudson county to Essex County or Bergen to Hunterdon.
I would concur though im not really a fan of most towns the parkway touches and most things east of it.
Well the OP did say the “parts that are closest to NYC” and I kinda agree. The ugliest part of NJ starts in the southern tip of Bergen County and stretches down all the way to northern Middlesex County. You couldn’t pay me to live anywhere in Hudson County. Not my cup of tea at all.
There are beautiful and undeveloped areas in North Jersey in Warren and Sussex counties that aren’t congested, but they’re too desolate and mountainous, more than anything in South Jersey. They get snow at the drop of a hat too.
IMO, the best area for the middle class to live in NJ are the suburbs of Philadelphia. The ones mostly in Burlington and Camden counties. You have nice safe towns with great amenities, good schools and affluence somewhat comparable to North Jersey, but without the exorbitant price tags. If I don’t move out of NJ, this is where I want to go!
Unless you're a millionaire living in one of those suuuper expensive towns and money just isn't an issue, north jersey is a horrible place to live.
I've lived in South Jersey in Burlington County, the middle of the state on the Bay in South Amboy, and in north jersey in Hoboken, Weehawken, worked in Carlstadt went to school in Hackensack..
Having experienced the whole state, I'm telling you North Jersey is just a horrid place to live. There's always traffic. Stores and parking no matter where you go are so crowded and frustrating. Seriously your costco on a tuesday afternoon is like our costco in south jersey on black Friday.
Everything is on top of each other, it's sooo overpriced.
You need to break free... the Bay area in South Amboy was okay, but south jersey is miles away better all around.
That is all, rant over...
You are probably talking about the urban portion of North Jersey. They are poorly designed cities with crappy parking, I get that, but the suburbs are no problem. You don't have to be rich to live in the suburbs of NJ and not all suburbs in NNJ are rich areas, they are just regular towns with regular middle class people like my parents. After moving to California, I miss the spaciousness of most of the suburbs in the East. I just came back from a Costco here in California and man, almost no parking. I always found tons of parking in Costcos out in NNJ.
Many of the things people associate with the "City" when really the problem is all the cars. If you live and work in the city and have everything you need within walking distance, you sort of forget that congestion exists. I realize it isn't for everyone but just wanted to the point that out.
I moved to New Jersey from Pennsylvania in the nineties and lived in North Jersey at first.
I noticed right away that towns were set apart with poor people living in some towns and rich people living in others. (Now this was my impression, maybe not yours.)
As a young person at the time, I could live in a super expensive little tiny apartment on the edge of say, (Well, I won't say, but you can fill in the blank). And people on the street didn't talk to me.
Or I could live in a nice place in a poor town. People were very friendly but as a young professional, I missed talking to professionals
I realized it was based on the school system, and people are super interested in not having anyone in their schools whose parents don't share their professional values. And I know if all the kids have parents who don't have professional values, you get a failed high school.
But. Where I grew up in small town PA we had high income and low income people in the same town. (Also, we had kids from all walks attending the same high school).
We had kids whose parents were on public assistance, and we had kids whose parents were the town's doctors, and the wealthy local business owners. Kids did fine. Some in my class went to ivy league and became doctors, politicians and lawyers, some became ne'r-do-wells.
In the town, the big beautiful Victorian homes were on the end of the block, and in the middle of the block were the little bungalows. Outside town, some kids lived on beautiful farms, and some in trailers.
Now, you might see that as a bug, not a feature. (i.e. it doesn't sound good to you.) But it does work.
I moved to mid Jersey, and the town I found is much like the one I grew up in. On the end of my block are beautiful Victorians for professionals and business owners, in the middle are retirees and former factory workers, and everything in between. The block is so friendly, everyone talks to each other and invites each other to parties, the school is mid ranked, but I think has much to offer, with everything kids need (i.e. kids get excellent SAT scores, and it offers all the advanced placement courses.) Kids walk by my house, they looked relaxed and happy and they are so friendly! But, you might say--the schools aren't top ranked!
Some parents own businesses and are entrepreneurs, something you miss in a rich northern NJ town. (i.e., in high school, kids might talk to people who became wealthy not by attending Ivy League schools, but by opening a business). In other words, kids meet all kinds.
If I remember my high school experience, it was meeting all kinds of people that I really liked. I think meeting all kinds of people is good for kids, but again, my opinion only.
So, to each their own.
I don't know if anyone will read this long post. Bottom line, it's easier to meet all kinds of people if you live in small town PA or mid NJ but not in a super rich or poor town in NJ (unless you are actively meeting people outside your own town).
After some thought, I want to apologize for my post about north New Jersey. North New Jersey is home to many people, it is where they grew up, and there are so many beautiful homes, especially beautiful tree-lined streets in beautiful towns.
Northern NJ is much closer to better hiking, better skiing and the city.
Central NJ is closer to the beach, and in a vacuum (without the city) close enough in terms of food, variety, and shopping.
South NJ has much less amenities and stores and diversity.
I mean if you're just going to eat burgers and at Applebees and shop and Shop Rite, then you can just go live in Nebraska too... that's much cheaper.
I think you're mistaken about that. There is diversity in south Jersey, beaches (seems odd to.mention central beaches but not south, when we have Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood and Cape May) and historic towns, and specialty markets, you just have to drive a but farther. Kosher food in Cherry Hill, Margate and others, Italian and Spanish in Hammonton (blueberry cannolis in summer at one Italian bakery thats bern in Hammonton for many decades) and farm fresh produce everywhere. P!us historic places like White House Subs in AC.
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