[charles.james]

All,

I will be moving with family from London to new jersey in July and just wanted to get some information around safe cities/places to live. I will be working in Jersey City and would ideally like to rent a 2 bedroom apartment/house. My budget is roughly 2800 USD and max commute time is 1 hour and 15 minutes. I do not intend to own a car in the beginning. No kids so schooling is not an issue as of now

Any ideas about good cities or neighborhoods that I should search apartments in?

CJ

 

[nyclon]

If you aren't planning on owning a car then you are probably going to want to stick to Jersey City or Hoboken. There are plenty of lovely towns within your commuting distance but you'd have a hard time without a car between getting to the train station and shopping for amenities.

Hoboken is perfectly safe but it is a young area. Lots of under 40s, bars and partying.

 

[charles.james]

Nyclon,

Thanks for your reply! I was considering Hoboken, but got put off by crime ratings (from internet -- published on valuepenguin site - 2015 safest cities). Your recommendation makes me reconsider that decision. Are there any patches of hoboken to avoid?

 

[nyclon]

Hoboken is a square mile if I remember correctly. It's too small to differentiate between bad and good areas. It's across the Hudson River from NYC and a good percentage of the residents are 20-40 somethings who commute to into the City everyday for work. I would venture to guess that most of the "crime" is for things like being drunk and disorderly and maybe drug related.

 

[charles.james]

Thanks and if I decide to get a car, what would be my options in terms of safe towns?

 

[lambana]

Thanks and if I decide to get a car, what would be my options in terms of safe towns?

Rutherford NJ - Close to NJ transit bus and train. - Dry town.

Weehawken NJ - Close to NJ transit bus and NY waterway.

 

[Newyorkaise]

You say you have no kids, so I'm assuming the "family" is just you and a spouse. If you're working in Jersey City, have you considered doing the reverse commute via PATH, NJTransit, or ferry and living in Manhattan? $2800 is tight for a 2-bedroom, but if it's just the 2 of you, why do you need that much space? And most New Yorkers survive very well without a personal car (you can look into the various rental and car-sharing services if you need one for a get-away).

I've spent gazillions of thousands of dollars renting 2 or 3 bedroom apartments throughout the US (CA, CO, FL, HI, CT...) in anticipation of housing visitors who never came - I'd've been better off putting the money aside and paying for them to stay in a hotel...if they'd ever shown up!

Plus, I always figure that if you're spending 10-12 hours at work, and taking advantage of whatever the city/town you're in has to offer (restaurants, cinema, theatre...) - well, why do you need all that space anyhow? It just encourages you to buy furniture and stuff that you'll have to figure out how to discard at some point. And somebody has to keep it all clean.

Anyhow, that's just a thought from this side of the Hudson.

Good luck!