Where to live between Philadelphia and Morristown, NJ (Pittsburgh, Hanover: real estate, apartment)

[Philly-bound]

My wife and I currently live and work in Pittsburgh. But I am (hopefully) close to receiving a job offer in Philadelphia and my wife has an opportunity to relocate to her company's headquarters in Morristown, NJ. I know that Philly and Morristown are about 1:40 minutes apart, but we are both accustomed to 40 minute commutes to work.

Two questions:

1.) Does anyone have any ideas as to what places we should be looking to live somewhere between the two? (Princeton seems like a good midway point; do many people that live in Princeton commute to Philly?)

2.) Is this even doable? (i.e. would it just not be possible to find a convenient place to live between the two cities without one or both of us killing ourselves to drive to and from work every day)

We both want to live in the Philly area because of the career opportunities, but we also think that it would be a good area to start a family in the next two years.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Philly-bound]

Also, since I am new to this board and just learning the protocol, some additional information:
- We are both 30 years old, with no children (yet), but one dog
- I am a lawyer and she is in healthcare communications
- We are looking to rent for at least the first year; preferably something smaller given our limited space needs, maybe with a modern style (inlcluding mid-century modern, and certain 70s etc.)

[frankgn87]

wow.. That is quite a far distance apart. Its an hour and forty without the rush hour traffic.. I would say that Ewing township Nj is somewhere in the middle.. Great area too. That would but both of you at 45 minutes or so for your daily commutes. This whole area is very nice and has just about anything you could wish for.. You will love it here..

[Angus215]

probably somewhere near trenton (ie. Princeton). that way you could take train to philly. could also conceivably live near one of the major amtrak stations in northern NJ (ie. metro park) and you could take amtrak to philly and your wife would have a "more" reasonable commute. but even that would probably be rough. traffic in northern NJ is terrible.

[Just1Lion]

honestly from experience, philly and morristown are more like 2 hours apart. my family lives in morristown and i lived in philly for years. if you are talking a work commute it would be even longer than 2 hours. no real direct route unless you want to take toll roads. princeton area might work for a mid point though.

[kidphilly]

I would suggest someplace between 8a and 5 along the NJ Turnpike; whould be about an hour for both

FWIW I travle from CC to Morristown (Really East Hanover) ~ one a week, can do door to door in 1:30 minutes, honestly but I take the NJ Turnpike to 78 to 22

[midatlantic12]

Princeton, NJ is probably your best bet.

[mumof3kiddos]

I would suggest West Windsor. Alot of people commute from here. If you can afford Princeton by all means move there. Its beautiful!

[venditto]

Honestly, going via public transit from Princeton Junction to Morristown would be a big pain in the a** and time consuming. The person going to Morristown would have to transfer at Secaucus to the Morris/Essex line. From Princeton, this is a > 2 hour commute each way. (Anything > 1 hour has been shown to contribute to a drastic decrease in quality of life BTW.)

On a bad traffic day, which is potentially any rush hour, I would say Philly and Morristown can be more like a 2 hr drive from any roughly equidistant point. I would guess that point to be Raritan Township or Flemington, NJ. Have no idea what the rental situation is in these towns but would guess it would not be your taste.

Interestingly, New Hope, PA maps out to be about a 45 min to 1 hour driving commute (but double it re: traffic IMO) both to Morristown and Philly. Nice area. Some great apartment buildings just outside of town.

If either of you is going to use NJ Transit, you can use their trip planner to map out an equidistant station (they include 30th Street in Philly as one of the trip planner stops although you are actually transferring to SEPTA at Trenton). I would guess that point to be somewhere around New Brunswick or a little north, which includes a lot of meh towns (Edison, Rahway, etc). Relying on public transit would make the commute for the person going to Morristown hell IMO.

HTH

[FrankInPhilly]

I agree with some of the other replies that focused on the Princeton, Hopewell, Ewing area. That location can make one of you primarily a train (Amtrak, NJ Transit) commuter (from Princeton or Trenton). The Morristown commute is probably best done by car - not enviable, but not awful if you have somewhat flexible hours.
Yardley, PA or nearby might be an option if/when you buy - the Morristown commute would be a bit longer, but you'd avoid the punitive NJ real estate taxes.