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Someone please tell me it does! I am ok living in a modest apartment or condo - I don't need a mcmansion. But I do need great schools and a short commute to downtown NYC. By short I mean less than 1 hour door to door. I am in Jersey City now and I love it but the schools are a real problem. Your advice is greatly appreciated.
New Jersey has an abundance of great school systems. A little initiative & research will result in a wealth of knowledge on the subject.
Try Bergen Co for starters.
I found a ranking of all NJ public schools on NJ Magazine. Millburn is #1. I wonder if it's better to drive to the path station in Newark from there and then ride into downtown rather than take njtransit to midtown.
Funny, Jersey City is home to the #2 high school in the state.
McNair HS in Jersey City is actually a public high school, FYI. It's free but difficult to get in to. It seems they admit a small percentage of out of town kids for a very small annual tuition (something like $1500/year) - the rest of the kids are all JC kids. I still want to know where these kids are going to middle school and elementary that prepares them for this calibur of high school.
Also looking at Bergen county per openheads suggestion. Thanks again.
I am on the same boat. Hubby works in downtown and I work in Newark. We currently live in JC as well. I've heard the Learning Community Charter School in JC is good, but the erollment is by lottery. We are targeting some towns in Union County (Berkeley Heights, New Providence, Westfield, Cranford). The train ride from those towns to Newark should be within 30 minutes or train to Hoboken is 50 minutes. I am not sure about driving condition to Newark, but I heard it's doable (prox. 35-40 minutes in the morning). I plan to drive if we move to Union County as my company offers discount parking close to Newark Penn Station.
You won't find any town in NJ with "great" (public) schools that will give you a 1-hour-or-less door-to-door commute to Wall St.
But if you're willing to expand your definition of "short" to between 75 and 90 minutes, you have many options.
Although you can get to New York in roughly 30-40 minutes from many nice towns with good public schools in NJ, when you live in NJ and work on Wall St., "getting to New York" is only half the fun. New Jersey Transit trains run either to Penn Station (NYC) or Hoboken. To get to Wall St. from either of those terminals, you'll need to take the subway (if your NJ Transit takes you to Penn Station) or you'll need to take the PATH to WTC and walk down to Wall St. Either way, you're looking at roughly another 30 minutes at least.
When you add in the time it will take you to get to the NJ Transit train station in your hometown each morning, the cushion you need to give yourself, the inevitable (and frequent) minor NJ Transit delays, connections and further wait times for the subway or PATH ... well, you're most likely looking at 75 minutes on a good day, longer if you're traveling during off-peak hours or if there is some snag on the trip.
You can make the best of it with reading/music/etc., but the commute is draining and it definitely cuts into your free time that you'd rather be spending with your family. Trust me -- if I sound like a jaded NJ--Wall St. commuter, it's because I am. :-)
Everything is a compromise in this area. Good luck.
Middletown, Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver, Atlantic Highlands, Monmouth Beach and Sea Bright (Oceanport) all have good to great public schools and they're all an hour or less to Wall St. via Seastreak or NY Waterway.
That includes a 35-40 minute ferry ride and up to a 20 minute drive to Belford/Highlands/Atlantic Highlands.
Thanks, Lusitan - I needed that. You always hear people say their commutes are less than an hour but I don't believe that is door to door. I don't think it is worth it for me to move farther out to the burbs. I might as well stay in Jersey City, pay for private school, and spend more time at home vs commuting.
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