If you live in Jersey and work in Philly your Philly Wage tax is applied as a credit against your state income tax with NJ because of the tax agreement they have. This means you effectively JUST pay wage tax and not state income tax unless you're a pretty high net worth earner. This is different from Philly suburbs in pa where you page city and state taxes.

Property taxes can be higher, especially in some areas, but there are tradeoffs.

As for OP, NJ is competitive especially if you want walking distance to Patco (because patco is great). That being said, if you're ok being a bit off the beaten path, check the areas around the Ashland station in particular (Such as Voorhees). Also Oaklyn as others have mentioned.

Haddonfield, Haddon Township, Westmont, and Collingswood all have nice downtowns, but they're super competitive as a result.

We currently live in the city proper so rent is already relatively high, and we are aware that we will have to shell out a bit more for the burbs. Neither of us works in Philly.