I hope you're happy with wherever you end up.
NJ may be expensive, but you'll soon realize that NJ has EVERYTHING, and you may miss it when you're gone.
Mountains up northwest, Beaches on the southeast, the most densely populated city in the country, as well as farm-towns with barely any population density.
Traffic may be bad here, but it's not much better in other places in the country with many interesting things to do.