North Jersey vs South Jersey. (Newark, Paterson: apartment, crime, house prices)
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is there a "stigma" or reputation of being from South Jersey or North Jersey? Is one region of the state considered to be "better" than another? or richer? It seems like people people prefer to be from "north Jersey" as it's closer to manhattan...?
I was driving around looking at various neighborhoods and such and I was looking for communities with nice homes and someone had said "don't buy a house in south jersey, you'd be better off spending that money in north jersey...". Why is that?
and as my little side rant, why the hell are property taxes so god damn high in NJ! haha i mean holy cow...
I like South Jersey a lot better than North Jersey. People are nicer, houses are more reasonably priced, less materialism, the winters are a teeny bit milder. Oh yeah, and did I mention the people are nicer
Oh man, and wait until people start talking about Central Jersey and whether or not it even exists.
For the most part Northern New Jersey (and I'm speaking in the broad sense that includes Central Jersey) is more NYC-centric than Philly-centric and is the more populous part of the state. Expect Yankees caps. A lot of people hear NJ and they think of the industrial areas near the airport, or troubled populous towns like Newark and Paterson. Of course, there are plenty of boring suburbs too and even farms and Confederate flags flying out West.
South NJ is a Philly-centric less populous part of the state. It has some of all of the above, but it's a lot more scaled down. There's some heavily built up areas outside Philly, but it doesn't sprawl quite as far.
There are nice towns in both, there are less nice towns in both. Although expect NNJ to be more expesnsive. Overall, it's a matter of preference.
In many ways, it comes down to personal preference. There are some North Jerseyans and South Jerseyans who rag on each other and play up stereotypes, but I'm sure that many of them have never even properly explored in depth the "other side" and are making some comments out of ignorance.
Of course though, it's a small state, and it really shouldn't be that hard for most people to explore in its entirety, or close to it. And there are plenty of unifying themes. No matter where you are in NJ, people will complain about traffic, tolls, property taxes, political corruption, etc. Italian food is EVERYWHERE. Both have nice towns, both have bad areas that are poor and crime ridden. People love the Shore, are sick of AC though, and schools are generally good, with even "bad" schools in NJ outperforming "good" schools in several other states.
That said, there are plenty of differences as well. North Jersey is wealthier. South Jersey is more agriculturally focused, although there are still the Philly suburbs that are not as agricultural. North Jersey has more vibrant towns and cities with dense population, young professionals, trains, downtowns, and nightlife, whereas in South Jersey it's much more generic suburbia, family oriented, and you could say to an extent, boring. In fact, many South Jersey towns are still dry. North Jersey has more Indians, Asians, and Arabs, whereas South Jersey does not, except for a handful of towns like Voorhees, Cherry Hill, Marlton, maybe a few others.
Generally speaking, there is more economic opportunity in the North. I suppose it depends on the field you work in. If you work in healthcare, there are plenty of jobs for you in South Jersey and Philly, just like you can find those jobs pretty much anywhere. But if you are like me and work in "business", then North Jersey is much better suited for you. Last time I checked, as one measure, North and Central Jersey (and I group them together because for the most part Central Jersey is more like North Jersey than it is South Jersey) combine for 17 HQ's of Fortune 500 companies, whereas South Jersey has 2.
At the end of the day, it's up to what suits YOU best. Everyone is going to have their own opinion.
I define South Jersey as including the following counties: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, and Salem. This region is in decline.
House prices are falling in 5 of 7 Counties (slight gains in Atlantic and Ocean). Population is declining in 5 of 7 counties (modest increases in Gloucester and Ocean).
The national economy is thriving and the state economy is healing - both have been growing for years. Something is going terribly wrong when in this environment, house prices and population in a region are headed down.
South Jersey doesn't have a lot of the amenities that North Jersey offers.
The ethnic food choices are limited. And the entertainment is rather limited.
However, Philadelphia proper does offer those things.
And living in a luxury apartment within the city of Philly is actually cheaper in most cases than living in an average apartment in the suburbs of North Jersey.
Lock your doors. The people with the torches and pitchforks are on their way over.
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