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I lived in both Austin and NJ (Maplewood/South Orange) for many years. Several previous posts have addressed the obvious factors - climate, the absurd Austin housing market, etc.
I encourage you to consider your kids' "lifestyle" (hate that word). In Texas, you will live in a suburb, they won't be able to walk anywhere, all events will need to be scheduled, and they will need to be driven. You will be surrounded by rich white people.
If you move to Millburn or one of the other small, close-in NJ train towns, your kids will probably be able to walk/bike to school and to the local town center or other commercial cluster. They'll have vastly more spontaneity and independence. They can go to town on their own and meet their friends for pizza or a movie. When they're a little older, they can take the train into NYC on their own and explore.
I'm a product of Texas public schools. Much later in life I moved to NJ to help raise my nephews, who are now in college. My nephews are so much more sophisticated, confident, and worldly than I was at their age. They've been exposed to a much wider slice of humanity - culturally, racially, and economically - than I ever encountered as a kid. I'm so glad they were able to have that experience. And they got great educations. They learned how to think. They amaze me sometimes. I was such a yokel at their age even though I came from an educated, well-traveled family.
Now that I'm back in Texas (San Antonio), I desperately miss the walkability of NJ towns. I'm so tired of getting into a roasting hot car to drive five miles on a freeway to accomplish anything. I miss the days of strolling into town to grab a bite and browse the bookstore.
Sorry, feeling whiny today, and also disgusted with my state's leadership.
New Jersey (Short Hills is beautiful) is probably the best place to live with things do and was such great place to grow up.
Texas though has surpassed NJ for quality of life. Cost of living, job growth is incredible and the politics of red state make it a great place to live.
I lived in both Austin and NJ (Maplewood/South Orange) for many years. Several previous posts have addressed the obvious factors - climate, the absurd Austin housing market, etc.
I encourage you to consider your kids' "lifestyle" (hate that word). In Texas, you will live in a suburb, they won't be able to walk anywhere, all events will need to be scheduled, and they will need to be driven. You will be surrounded by rich white people.
If you move to Millburn or one of the other small, close-in NJ train towns, your kids will probably be able to walk/bike to school and to the local town center or other commercial cluster. They'll have vastly more spontaneity and independence. They can go to town on their own and meet their friends for pizza or a movie. When they're a little older, they can take the train into NYC on their own and explore.
I'm a product of Texas public schools. Much later in life I moved to NJ to help raise my nephews, who are now in college. My nephews are so much more sophisticated, confident, and worldly than I was at their age. They've been exposed to a much wider slice of humanity - culturally, racially, and economically - than I ever encountered as a kid. I'm so glad they were able to have that experience. And they got great educations. They learned how to think. They amaze me sometimes. I was such a yokel at their age even though I came from an educated, well-traveled family.
Now that I'm back in Texas (San Antonio), I desperately miss the walkability of NJ towns. I'm so tired of getting into a roasting hot car to drive five miles on a freeway to accomplish anything. I miss the days of strolling into town to grab a bite and browse the bookstore.
Sorry, feeling whiny today, and also disgusted with my state's leadership.
Spot on, every point. Especially the bolded as I can chime in from personal experience. The contrast was (and is still) stunning.
If I can afford a 2M home, I am not sending my kids to public school. The biggest problem with public school is school unions. School cannot fire bad teachers.
In that case, you may want to consider towns that have a direct train line to Hoboken for a transfer to the WTC PATH. I believe Ridgewood/Bergen county does. I also believe that Millburn does as well, but that line is primarily a midtown direct line (which means that you would need to go into Penn Station, and then transfer to a downtown subway line). Or, you could find a place within driving distance of the Newark/Harrison PATH stations, which is a direct shot into WTC (but of course would need to deal with rush hour traffic to Newark or Harrison each day).
From my understanding, the transfer at Hoboken is MUCH preferable to the transfer at Penn, even if the official timetables suggest they would take a similar amount of time. Basically, Penn is best avoided if at all possible.
Maybe I'd lean Austin ha.
Confirming that Ridgewood and other NW Bergen County towns (Look at Allendale, too) on the BC train line are good for lower Manhattan. I commuted from Ridgewood to the WTC for a couple decades. Express trains during rush hours.
Upside for trips--fast getaway over the NYS border for upstate lakes and mountains. Downside--horrid summer traffic to the Jersey beaches.
Lately.. all the posters in city data have all budgets of 1m+. Looks like the world moved on where I am at the same place. Jokes aside.. for a commute to downtown Manhattan and with your budget, I would pick from these towns Ridgewood, Montclair, Milburn/Short Hills, Summit, Chatham, Madison. All of them have direct train to Hoboken for a transfer to WTC path. This is a better commute than transferring at Newark Penn Station or New York Penn Station. About picking between the state, I would pick either NJ or Seattle.. lot of nature around and lot of weekend activities with 4 seasons.
Yep and Murphy messed up big time in the ice storm we had in 2019. Also, NJ Covid death numbers are ~50% higher than they should be or at least 8,000+ deaths as a direct result of Murphy missteps/mistakes with nursing homes. If Christie made this mistake it would be front page news until he resigned, but we barely had a peep from the media. As a result of nursing home deaths which he caused, he ordered the rest of the state general populace locked down resulting in half of downtowns closed and out of business. Additionally, this was all done for a federal bailout. It makes me so mad my teeth grind thinking about it.
The results and its consequences of Democrat politics is the number one reason NJ has the highest rate of people leaving the state in the union. People arent leaving because of geography, culture and what it has to offer. Its sad because it beating other blue state departures like California, Illinois and New York.
Last edited by DannyHobkins; 03-05-2021 at 07:49 AM..
If I can afford a 2M home, I am not sending my kids to public school. The biggest problem with public school is school unions. School cannot fire bad teachers.
The teacher unions in Texas are much different then in New Jersey. Teachers get fired regularly. We are not a "union" state.
If I can afford a 2M home, I am not sending my kids to public school. The biggest problem with public school is school unions. School cannot fire bad teachers.
I won't pretend to know all the ins and outs of the union contracts so will take your word for it, but private school can stretch to $40K per year, per kid. That's a lot for anyone, even those with a $2M budget. And while I'm sure bad teachers do exist, I've never heard anyone say Millburn HS was anything but rigorous. I'm a believer in public schools anyway, but I would 100% send my kids to Millburn and not think twice about it.
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