Living near 30th street station, philly

[solibs]

Originally Posted by traveller2010

living in NJ is not an option since we prefer an urban environment

have you been to Hoboken or Jersey City?

Hoboken, Guttenberg, Union City and West New York are the most densely populated places in the country.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by solibs

have you been to Hoboken or Jersey City?

Hoboken, Guttenberg, Union City and West New York are the most densely populated places in the country.

You are right...although I'd assume the OP is referring to South Jersey as not being so high-density urban.

[solibs]

Originally Posted by Tone509

You are right...although I'd assume the OP is referring to South Jersey as not being so high-density urban.

Possibly. But post #5 specifically suggests Hoboken and JC.

I don't know what the OP is up to. If he's looking at moving his life to Philly - if commuting to NYC is a short term plan while he's looking for work here then that makes sense. I wouldn't suggest Amtrak unless work is paying for it or unless you make enough money that it doesn't matter.

Brooklyn and Jersey City are much better options if you're looking for urban and cheap. The rent around 30th St. isn't that much cheaper and when you add in the cost of the commute it's far more expensive.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by solibs

Possibly. But post #5 specifically suggests Hoboken and JC.

I don't know what the OP is up to. If he's looking at moving his life to Philly - if commuting to NYC is a short term plan while he's looking for work here then that makes sense. I wouldn't suggest Amtrak unless work is paying for it or unless you make enough money that it doesn't matter.

Brooklyn and Jersey City are much better options if you're looking for urban and cheap. The rent around 30th St. isn't that much cheaper and when you add in the cost of the commute it's far more expensive.

I suppose I'd also assume that the OP has done their due diligence and discovered that Center City rent plus transportation would leave them with more money in their pocket than any vibrant and reasonably comfortable NYC-area neighborhoods. It looks like I responded similarly in post #6.

I don't pretend to know rents in and around the Big Apple so well outside of figuring Manhattan to be generally stratospheric. But it's my understanding that Jersey City's more popular/safer neighborhoods are along the riverfront and I figure would be priced accordingly. I'd agree that Brooklyn, outside of places like Park Slope and Williamsburg perhaps, would be a decent alternative...but again I'd assume that the OP has already determined that they're priced out.

[rotodome]

I've done this commute. Between the $$ expense and the 4-5 hours per day of commuting, it really didn't make sense to me. I'd leave the house at 6:30, get back around 9, eat, go to bed, rinse & repeat. Not much time to enjoy either the city where I was living OR the city where I was working...or even see much daylight where I was living during the weekdays. And when there are problems with some leg of the commute (traffic, train delay, accidents, etc..), which if you commute every day you will experience, it makes things take even longer.

I guess if one had a job that paid for an Acela pas, a job in NYC that was close to Penn station, and relatively short work hours, then it could be feasible, but even then it's a haul. And I imagine that if one has that kind of job, they wouldn't have a dire need to be saving a couple hundred dollars a month in rent anyway.

And yes, as some have said, people always have irrational Jersey-phobia, but it's definitely not true that places in NJ near NYC do not have urban environments. Hoboken & JC are very pleasant very urban spots (maybe Union City not so much), but those nice places are not cheap either.
This is one reason why so many people live in Brooklyn & Queens - where rent is really not too far off from Center City rents, and you can just take the subway to work. Granted - when I look for places to live I'm specifically not looking for "high-rises with amenities", so maybe the scale is substantially different with those kinds of places.

Good luck with your search though.