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I'm moving to New Jersey from Europe and wanted to know where is the best areas to move to taking into consideration that my husband will commute to NYC everyday for work and he wants to have a direct train ride into the city.
I also want to be in an area with excellent schools (middle school -high school) and that it is multicultural. Someone suggested Chatham, Denville, Florham Park and Madison and I just wanted feedback on these areas. I'm also up for suggestions!
Those areas are great, but what do you mean by multicultural? In NJ most of the best rated public (& in fact private) schools are all white.
The towns that you listed all are really nice & have excellent school systems but are all 85-95% white.
If you want something more "progressive," I suppose maybe look into some place like Montclair, Hoboken, or parts of Jersey City. These towns are more multicultural, but at least with Jersey City & Hoboken, the schools aren't as good and you would probably have to send your kids to parochial schools there.
Those areas are great, but what do you mean by multicultural? In NJ most of the best rated public (& in fact private) schools are all white.
The towns that you listed all are really nice & have excellent school systems but are all 85-95% white.
If you want something more "progressive," I suppose maybe look into some place like Montclair, Hoboken, or parts of Jersey City. These towns are more multicultural, but at least with Jersey City & Hoboken, the schools aren't as good and you would probably have to send your kids to parochial schools there.
Just wanted to point out the best HS in the state according to Newsweek and NJ Monthly is McNair Academic High in Jersey City. If the OP looks into JC for multiculture - THAT is the HS to go to - no need to go parochial.
Are you able to come to visit before your move? I would strongly suggest you rent first and then take a car and drive around to see what you like. There is everything from pretty bad to very good. Will your husband be working downtown Manhattan or Midtown? That makes a difference in the commute. For example, from some areas in the suburbs the trains go to Hoboken, NJ (from where you can catch a PATH-train or ferry to downtown, very easy) or you have direct connections to NY Penn Station. Chack the NJ Transit website for schedules. Careful with some towns, for example from Westfield, you have no direct train to NYC, have to change in Newark.
We rented first, for almost a year, in Jersey City. It was good, because we realized we would not stay in JC and we had a couple a realtors looking for houses for us in the suburbs. Worked out well.
Yeah of course that school is good, but it doesn't have open admissions. I believe you have to apply for it and your admissions is based upon your PSAT scores and GPA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tahiti
Just wanted to point out the best HS in the state according to Newsweek and NJ Monthly is McNair Academic High in Jersey City. If the OP looks into JC for multiculture - THAT is the HS to go to - no need to go parochial.
I also want to be in an area with excellent schools (middle school -high school) and that it is multicultural. Someone suggested Chatham, Denville, Florham Park and Madison and I just wanted feedback on these areas. I'm also up for suggestions!
They are all quite nice if they fit the budget. Denville is a bit farther out, but Florham Park, Madison and Chatham form a little triangle -- square, if you were to toss in Livingston -- right next to each other. Madison and Chatham offer Midtown-Direct train service into Manhattan via NJ Transit. From those two, I'd go with Madison, which truly is a wonderful little place. Excellent schools, and the presence in town of Drew and Fairleigh-Dickinson Universities, and the College of St. Elizabeth just up the road, has a noticeable effect as well. Terrific and quite walkable downtown with a variety of shops and very nice restaurants. Chatham is certainly similar in many ways, but it just doesn't quite have the polish that Madison does. If the latter does fit within your budget, it's certainly a spot you'd want to look closely at...
Chatham has top schools but would not be multicultural.
Madison is more diverse with a small percent Asian (especially in the Drew University side of town), small percent Hispanic (in the bigger elem school), and some European expats occasionally. But 90% white (vs Chatham is probably 98%).
Millburn/Short Hills have a pretty high Asian population - 10% maybe - and Top-Top schools (often in top 3 in the state, I think). This is also the closest to NYC - of these towns (order is ...Millburn, Short Hills, Summit, Chatham, Madison...). I'm sure there are some European expats there too...somehow they seem to find each other (some sort of club maybe?). Short Hills is $$$. Millburn pricey. Summit another option, it is a "Small City" so has an "urban" side to it as well (some lower income housing type of diversity; the rest is wealthy to super wealthy and mostly NYC commuters).
As far as High Schools, Millburn High School and Chatham High School are going to be the best in terms of opportunities, academics, AP classes, etc.
Coming from Europe, I would not choose Florham Park (no train to NYC, no High School - they use Hanover Park HS -- which is much more diverse and lower % college bound students). Same with Denville, no train, MUCH further to NYC from there, and schools are not as good. Also you will not find as many transplants in these towns as in Millburn, Summit, Short Hills, Chatham, Madison.
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Rent first
