NWR Jersey suburb commute to NYC for Work

FH and I both have family that lives in Jersey and commutes to the city for work. It's all about deciding what's important to you - do you want to spend 2 hours a day (at least) in a car, on a train, or in transit getting to work? For my family, the $$ in the city made it worth it. For FH's family, she can work from home some days, and only goes to the office when she needs to be there for a meeting - so it works for them too.

Their families both live in NJ though, so it's easier to get help when needed for childcare, or an emergency.

I also have a lot of friends who live in Hudson Valley, Westchester, etc and travel to either Jersey or NYC for work - and personally, I'm not interested in that much commuting. Some of my friends have apartments in the city they stay in during the week and only come home on weekends - makes for a lot of alone time from their families. It's all about personal decisions and what you're willing to trade in to get something else you want.

From Wayne? If you're driving that's going to be a thing- 287 is PACKED East bound in the morning and West bound at night.

If you can take the train you'll be better off.

FH commutes to NYC from NJ- but he lives in Garfield right now- he takes his motorcycle to work about 45% of the time- the car the other 50% and maybe bus 5%.

He's moving down with me to the Trenton area after we get married- he'll take public transit on the train- and the bike- but he works 3 PM to 11 PM. So that makes a difference.

North jersey is fantastic because the prices aren't outrageous and you're still near NY. However the commute traffic is hell. I commute from jersey on the hudson river (5 mins from Manhattan) further into NJ and traffic on route 3 in the mornings is hell. Even worse coming back heading towards Manhattan. Trying to get into manhattan from 5-7pm (especially on a friday) is a PITA.

You have to decide if the location is worth the commute, to me it is, I'm not willing to move closer to my job because I'd have to give up my awesome city, but man it sucks.

I am right over the CT border and commute to NYC 2 times a week. It's about 1 hour 20 min door to door, and it sucks sometimes, but it's really not that bad. I am used to it by now and usually just sleep on the train, but it was much easier when I lived in Manhattan. Westchester is great though- the trains are very reliable and run often. Many of my coworkers who lived in jersey ended up getting apartments in the city after a few months to avoid the commute- but I can't really speak to that.

Personally- we moved to the suburbs so we could be closer to family and have a real yard for our children someday. It's all about what is most important to you though.

Are you driving, or train/bus?

My dad takes the train from Morristown every morning, it takes about an hour. Having lived in North NJ my whole life, I would highly recommend using public transportation. Driving will be terrible. Anything from Bergen County is not direct into Penn Station, you'll have to transfer in Seacaucus.

The train from Westchester is fine too, that takes you into Grand Central. Anywhere from 30 mins-1.5 hours depending on where you live, of course. Again, driving will be pretty bad with traffic.

I live in Millburn right now (in an apartment, so can't speak to housing costs), and commute to Midtown. It's basically a little over an hour door-to-door, and there are definitely days where I hate it, but most of the time it's not too bad. I take the train so I either read or sleep (or play games on my phone). It works for me and FH because he only works about 5 minutes away so he actually takes care of a lot of the "around-the-house" chores and duties. One of my absolutes, though, is that I had to live near a train line if I was going to live in NJ and commute to NYC. Driving to NYC from Jersey is absolutely TERRIBLE (as others have noted), and the bus, because it's in the same traffic, is usually not much better. Also, if you're on a train line and commute downtown, you can actually take a train to a PATH station (Jersey City, Hoboken), and take the PATH to WTC. When I used to work downtown I actually really loved my commute, because everyone goes into midtown (Penn Station) from NJ, the train lines to Hoboken are a lot less crowded and more civilized, and then it's cheaper because the train ticket costs are much higher when you go into Penn Station rather than somewhere else in NJ.

Thank you for all your answers everyone. Yea that is what i tell FH the whole nj to nyc commute is terrible and we would most likely take busses. On top of that its really important for me to atleast somewhat close to family in the future which is why was thinking westchester. I want a house with a big yard. I just wasnt sure how far up I would have to go. @fallbride i totally agree with you that would be a dream to me to just be able to take a drive over to work especially when we have kids. Im definitely not tied to any job since i feel my family will come first and I would consider finding something closer if I have to. Im in the Architecture and Engineering Field and currently working on licensure so hopefully with a license it would make job hunting easier.

Be careful with Wayne, certain areas are flood zones.

Thanks @fallbride @marleenp that explains why these beautiful houses are so affordable

FH & I currently live in NYC (Jamaica, Queens) and it takes me an hour and a half just to get to the city. When I lived in North Jersey it took me 30-45mins on the bus. We're actually looking into moving back to NJ because our commutes in the city are ridiculous. We're looking for an apartment though, not so sure what the housing situation is like or the neighborhoods. I have two friends that are married and live in Bloomfield where they own a home. It seems like a really nice neighborhood and quiet so that may be a good place to check out. They both commute to NYC for work also.

I used to commute to NYC from Little Silver train station for an internship, and it was 1.5 hours both ways. And everything about NJ Transit is awful. Wayne is definitely closer but it can get very congested up north if you're taking a car/bus. I hated commuting but if you're willing to give up a couple hours a day on commuting for the extra money you're earning in the city, then go for it. For me I was earning $10/hr so obviously it wasn't worth it.

That's crazy Krystal. I'm in Queens and on a good day it's 35 minutes. Bad it's 45-60.

Yeah from the bronx it takes me 45-60 to get to work. Good or Bad days but the green line is terrible so im stuck with that.

I used to live in the Bx off the 6 line - hated it lol.