Suburbs of NY in NJ (Newark, Jersey City: low crime, transfer, public school)

[123syl]

I was wondering what the suburbs of NY City in NJ were like for raising kids (One would be 11 in 6 Grade and the other would be 5 in Kindergaton.) I would assume that they get better the farther out you go (like Wyckoff, Ridgewood, Fairlawn, Wayne, and Yonkers) but I could be wrong. What about Jersey City, Newark, Bayonne, and Elizabeth? The commuting to NY City would be an hour max.

[NJ Chutzpah]

well NJ is great place to raise kids

but i will be hell for parents with the corruption and all

[CuCullin]

1hr max is tough.... even for guys at my office, commuting from brooklyn takes them over an hour...

That said, many are happy with Maplewood. Don't know your price range, it isn't cheap.

Personally, Jersey City & Newark wouldn't be on my list. Elizabeth, I would only consider the Elmora section. Union may also work for you, should be about an hour door to door, though you'll need to change at Newark.

There are plenty of places, so it would help to narrow it down a bit with your needs

[123syl]

Thanks both of you for the reviews. Like I said before it needs to be good for raising kids. That would mean family oriented things to do, good schools, nice parks, and low crime. An hour commute would be nice but 1 1/2 hours is the max. I've heard Maplewood isn't a nice place to be in at night. Is that true? There is really no exact price, just between $300,000 and 700,000

[pbergen]

where in nyc will you be commuting? midtown? downtown? east side or west side? some parts of the city are easier/quicker to get to from different areas of nj due to the fact that certain nj transit lines head directly into penn station (midtown), some go into hoboken (requiring a transfer at secaucus to go to midtown or at hoboken to go to downtown), and then of course there are the bus lines into the port authority bus terminal. it all depends where in nyc you need to be.

also, what's your max budget? 1 hour door-to-door is tough to do, even if the town is only 10-12 miles from the city. is the local public school system important to you?

some of the nicer inner ring suburbs are montclair, glen ridge, maplewood, and south orange. not quite as nice but still close and very respectable are rutherford, nutley, parts of bloomfield, kearny (arlington section), parts of clifton, etc. basically anywhere in eastern essex, southern passaic, southern bergen, and northern union counties are the closest suburban areas to manhattan, in addition to kearny and secaucus in hudson county (with only the arlington section of kearny worth looking into IMO). most of the elite towns are a little bit farther out, if not much more so, but there are some great towns within a 15 mile radius if you have a large budget.

[pbergen]

btw i would not recommend any jc, newark, bayonne, or elizabeth since you have kids - subpar to awful schools for the most part. not to mention, these towns are almost entirely urban, save for suburbanish pockets here and there. as another poster mentioned, the elmora section of elizabeth is respectable, but personally i'd look elsewhere, such as neighboring union township if you were to focus on that particular area.

[pbergen]

Originally Posted by 123syl

Thanks both of you for the reviews. Like I said before it needs to be good for raising kids. That would mean family oriented things to do, good schools, nice parks, and low crime. An hour commute would be nice but 1 1/2 hours is the max. I've heard Maplewood isn't a nice place to be in at night. Is that true? There is really no exact price, just between $300,000 and 700,000

maplewood is a very safe, nice town. it borders some bad areas but the local police do a great job of keeping the town safe. schools are solid, although not necessarily the best out there. very nice town but very expensive. south orange is very similar in many ways and shares the public school.

it's going to be hard to find something at the low end of your budget. you might be able to find something in the towns previously recommended. all of them meet most of your criteria - it's just a matter if you can find something for a half million or so. you'll have a much better chance of finding something cheaper in, say, nutley, bloomfield, or clifton, but the schools are not as good as a town like glen ridge.

look into rutherford.

[123syl]

I would be commuting downtown. My max budget is probably 800,000.

[pbergen]

since you're willing to pay a little more and deal with a slightly longer commute, you should look into verona and cedar grove (no train line in these towns, so you'll have to drive a few minutes to catch the train) in essex county and fair lawn or river edge in bergen county. wayne also has a park-and-ride that's very popular, but be sure to avoid the flood-prone sections of town. central/southern wayne is about as far out as i'd live if i wanted to keep my commute fairly reasonable (~75-80 min).

and since you're commuting downtown, bergen and passaic counties are more of an option than if you were to commute to midtown. this is because trains from those two counties go to hoboken, which is more convenient to a downtown commute. and even though you can switch at secaucus or hoboken to go into midtown, it's kind of a pain from bergen & passaic; there are also buses to midtown, but again, a direct train (as is the case from essex and morris counties, not to mention much of central nj) is always preferable.

[veuvegirl]

Definitely look in Maplewood/South Orange area. For your budget you can get a great house! It's a wonderful community, very friendly, love it!