Any Advice On New Jersey?
Hello Everyone,
Accepting a new job in the Princeton area. Looking to stay in that general area. Any insight on the following places:
- Princeton Junction
- Lawrenceville
- West/East Windsor Townships
Just want a safe place to wind up. Any advice on where to go or where to avoid? Thank you!
I'm going to second a lot of what has been said. You won't have any issues in any of the towns you mentioned. Without knowing much about your family, needs, etc., I'd look at all the towns mentioned. If education for children isn't an issue just yet, look at Hamilton, Ewing, Pennington, Hopewell, and I'd look as far north as Sommerville and as far east as Cranbury Township if you want to minimize your commute. Also, unless you plan to take advantage of the school system sooner rather than later, I would highly recommend looking at the NJ School rankings to help factor in your decision.
The only issues really come down to commuting from where. If you're staying in the Princeton area, since it's all local traffic for the most part, you'll have to contend with that versus a true commute/reverse commute. If you're willing to look beyond that area, the reverse commute down to Princeton isn't that bad, all said and done. 1 South sucks through New Brunswick, but that's not really too horrible. And there's 202/206 which aren't bad a tall for a reverse commute. From where I am, for example, it takes about an hour and it's all reverse commute (78 West to 206 South), and I live in an area with great schools (on par with WWP) and a better train line than the NE Corridor.
On the subject of schools, if you willing to take the reverse commute, you have tons of options and all are top ranked depending on which list you want to follow (ex. USNRW, NJ Monthly, Etc.). Princeton, Chatham, WWP North, Livingston, Millburn, Summit, Basking Ridge and WWP South, in that order based on USNRW, are all school districts within an hour commute from Princeton. According to USNRW's '18 rankings, all of these districts are in the top 400 Public High Schools in the United States, so your children will get a great education and have high placement into top colleges. Regarding the train, if the NE Corridor train gets screwed, you're waiting multiple hours. The NE Corridor only has one way into Manhattan, through Kearny Junction, and if there's a delay, it's a delay.
Don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions. Any advice or insight I can offer, don't hesitate to ask.