Submitted by DancinLance6 t3_ybt0ed in newjersey
Hey NJ,
This might be a long post so apologies in advance!
Me and my wife are in our early 30s and have a 2yo, a dog and live in MN, we are both transplants to the state with me being from UK and my wife from the South, we have been here for 5 years and feel pretty lonely. We are obsessed with NY/NJ and the East Coast, each time we visit we always think if only we could live there though the cost of NYC is insane and looking to NJ/Hoboken is just as costly. It would be easier location for our families to fly into and for us to get flights to visit them too.
What we don't like about MN is the weather, passive aggressive folk and it's hard to make friends (MN Nice is a thing). We appreciate the directness that the East Coast offers my father in law was from Philly and we love how upfront and direct people will be I rather than than people being passive aggressive.
The winters in MN brutal and we feel the East Coast offers so much more for us. One of the things we really enjoy is how diverse the East Coast is, one of my parents is Pakistani and I know there is a decent community in the NY/NJ area.
Here are our "stats" for income etc
Parent 1 - 85k Parent 2 - 53k Daycare cost - $360 weekly 3br House bought for $280k pay $1600 monthly.
How does it look in terms of childcare costs in NJ and even for housing, I feel that a lot of the houses are probably double or triple our costs.
I am writing this post to see if there are areas in NJ that others would recommend based on the above that meet the criteria and also cities that are safe with less crime etc.
My work has a office in Little Falls, NJ and our jobs will allow us to go remote but would be nice to be somewhat close to get to NYC and also the Little Falls office.
EDIT: I would be classed as a remote employee so does not necessarily have to be close to Little Falls, NJ though as long as we are somewhat close of transportation line to get into NYC etc if we choose to do so. For us somewhere that has nice housing, diversity and is safe is top priority we don't necessarily need to have that "cookie cutter" feel to it.
Thank you again and I appreciate all responses.