Living in New Jersey, commuting to NY - Doable everyday?

So let's say you work at a PE, IB or HF firm in NYC.

But you want to live in New Jersey (think Weehawken, right by the ferry terminal), and your work place was in Times Square, NYC.

Could you make this commute every day and is it common? What are the pros and cons?

Is it better to live in NYC directly? Please opine.

8 Comments
 
Most Helpful

It's common enough with 9-5 jobs. Harder with IB hours, I'd say the majority of people who work 80+ hours a week live in NYC, usually with 0 transfers or maybe 1 transfer on the subway. Ferry -> either 20 min walk or waiting for a bus is a pretty long commute for IB et al.

Socially you probably will find yourself staying in NJ more, which is one thing if you're older and settled but not great if you're 23 and looking to hit the social scene downtown a lot. The Uber back to NJ is very expensive (fine when company is covering it, less so at 2-3am when you're coming home from the bar and it's $60 to get back). Also if you're looking to date, girls often don't want to go to Jersey to date if they live in Manhattan... stupid, but true.

How old are you? I'd recommend doing 1 year in NYC to make friends, get to know the city, and you can go explore Jersey on the weekends and move there if you want to once you're settled.

 

+1, currently a summer at a bank in NYC and staying in NJ (Jersey City, near Journal Square so even further than what you have in mind). 

Takes me an hour to get to my office which is near Times Square, and this very annoying commute aside living so far complicates your social life a lot as well. Not being able to go home to change/rest, not being able to bring people home, Ubers being expensive at night and subway being sketch etc all make it very difficult to really enjoy NYC's social scene. Granted, I'm only paying about a rack for a single and the place is nice but if I could turn back time I would splurge a bit more for an apartment in Manhattan. 

 
[Comment removed by mod team]
 

Earum nisi quis error sint consequatur ad. Consequuntur molestiae sit quisquam velit aperiam molestias. Ut et sunt at vitae totam et itaque. Modi velit vel dolores eius illo cumque voluptatum. Tempora dolorem quo facere dolor recusandae provident.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan No 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”