Gonna need a roommate, a one BR not in a shitty location will probably run you closer to 2k, maybe a bit less

It could, but you don't make your way back home from AC on the Garden State Plaza lol. I've lived in Bergen County and my wife grew up there, most people outside of Bergen/Passaic County don't think of the mall when hearing "GSP"

Yikes!

Lets leave the "PW" abbreviation behind though, "GSP" is what you're looking for.

> I'm a black man, and I honestly am somewhat fearful of possible racism.

Don't be. NJ is one of the most diverse places in the country, very blue, and very highly educated. The more rural counties in the northwest of the state and Monmouth/Ocean Counties are pretty uh...Trumpy, but most of the state is not.

> I'm assuming it'd be much less than San Diego

Oh my sweet summer child

> I'm not the.. straightest person around. How bad is that taken within the state

Again, NJ is very diverse and accepting. Sure there are shitty racists/homophobes anywhere, but you definitely won't find that's the norm here.

Yeah I'll volunteer mine too, we're in Somerset County

I’ve never once seen a Charger or Challenger driving normally. People like to rag on BMW and Audi, but these two Dodges are the strongest douchebag magnets on the planet.

Threeve

Nope, the complex was clean and safe, my wife and I would walk our dog around daily. You’re technically in Morris Plains, the complex straddles the border of MP and Motown, but the mailing address is Morristown. It’s super close to the really nice ShopRite in Cedar Knolls, if you know the area.

I just checked out the website, it's not a whole lot more than it was 5 years ago: https://oldeforgeeastapartments.com/

The 893 sq. ft. model is the one we had.

Not sure on the pricing these days, but my wife and I lived in the Olde Forge East complex about 5 years ago, off Speedwell about 5 minutes from the Green. Swimming pool, parking is not assigned and there are plenty of spots, pet friendly, central air, laundry room in the complex. We paid about $1600.

Not OP but this was taken from over by the library

Red Hawks babbyyyy

I don’t have anything to add here, just a funny story about candy stores. When I was in high school around ‘04-‘05, I worked at Bourbon Street Candy Company in Menlo Mall. It’s been gone a while, but if you’ve been going to Menlo since the early 2000’s you might remember it..downstairs near where Victoria’s Secret still is. Anyway, one day the phone rings and a young lady asks, “hi, is this Bourbon Street? What do I have to do to dance for you guys?” Perplexed, I asked her “dance?” She confirmed with “yeah.” After thinking about it for a few seconds, I realized she meant to call Bourbon St. the gentlemen’s club on route 9 in Sayreville - which is also ironic because I grew up there and my mind should have gone there first when she said Bourbon Street/dance. I often wonder what happened to her, if she ever got the interview/audition she was after.

Could it happen? Sure, we had a snowstorm on Halloween back around 2011 (I think). But is it likely? Nah. Generally we don't start worrying about snow until closer to Christmas, and even in the 'dead of winter' (Jan/Feb) it doesn't snow that often.

So many nights I pray that this would just

stop

Just a heads up, they make them with whiz instead of melted cheese (which is why I like them)

Oh nice, I think I’ve only had food from there once but I generally stick with Padonno’s and Papas because I live super close to both of them. Joe’s is very similar to Padonno’s, but I never get it because it’s on the opposite side of town. I’ll have to give Padonno’s sub a try, I never really liked their actual food other than the cheesesteaks

Lido Lido Lido Lido Lido, Hackensack

Star Tavern (but get it well done), Orange (I think)

Pizza Heaven, Parlin/Sayreville

Nunzio's, Sayreville/South Amboy

Marina's, East Rutherford/Wallington (I think it's closed now, but was always on my Mt Rushmore)

Joe's, Padonnos, and Proud Papas (Union)

Denino's, Brick

Lido in Hackensack is the answer to this question, every single time. I think if there was a single comment I've left the most times across all of reddit, it's this one, on this sub, answering this question.

I assumed this would be Nunzio’s

You bet. I'm happy to suggest some towns but it really depends how far you want to be (and from which parts of NYC), what your budget is, how much space you want, if you're looking for a more urban or suburban area, time of day you'll be commuting, etc. Even Hudson County by car can take some time due to bridge/tunnel traffic so if you want your commute to stay within 30 minutes (with traffic) you probably want to stick with Hudson or Bergen County, specifically the towns within a few miles of the bridge/tunnels (like the ones you named along with the ones a few others named - Englewood, Fort Lee, Edgewater - these all surround the GWB though).

Uh...West Orange is a nice family town. East Orange and Newark are...well, not.

Hudson County is expensive and you won't get very much for your money in terms of property size/land, you're paying to be close to NYC.

East Orange - nope

Newark - depends where

If you're not dead set on Hudson County, look at more of Essex County and maybe Union County. Just depends how far you want to be from the city (and where in the city you need to be close to), I'm in Union Township and can be downtown/midtown in 25 minutes by car (with no traffic), if you need to be closer to the Bronx it's about 35 minutes.

> why is NJ so expensive

Education

Proximity to NYC and Philadelphia

Proximity to beaches

Proximity to hiking/nature

Availability of great food of all types

4 seasons without any of them being too extreme

Culture

> literally noone even likes it their

no one*

there*

Then piss off and move somewhere else? We have enough people here without someone who doesn't even like it "their", move to the city if you don't like NJ. For a state no one likes we have an awfully high number of residents and the highest population density in the country.

Liberty Science Center?