In June I will start my residency at UMDNJ in Newark, NJ. I’m trying to look at apartment listings online but I don’t know anything about the various neighborhoods. Which neighborhoods and nearby cities should I be looking at for reasonably priced apartments in a safe environment? Where am I most likely to be able to have off-street parking? Which places are more walkable for daily errands like groceries? Any places you would definitely avoid? Any NJ Dopers who can help me out here?
I’m not an expert on neighborhoods in Newark, so I won’t say much there. As to nearby towns and cities, a lot will depend on how long a commute you want. As a resident, I’m guessing you’ll be working weird and wacky shift and won’t want a 40 minute commute (which isn’t much in Jersey). But even so, if you’ll accept 15-20 minutes, that would get you to Nutley or Lyndhurst which are nice (but not ridiculously expensive) towns.
I used to live in Newark when I was a student at Rutgers (just down the street from UMDNJ). I recommend South Orange. It’s on the train line (and doesn’t get bypassed by the rush hour express trains like the inner-city stations do), it’s clean and charming and self-contained, and it’s not too pricey. There aren’t a lot of apartment complexes in South Orange, but maybe you can find a duplex to rent. Maplewood and West Orange are also nice, but they are pricey. East Orange and Orange are okay but less quaint and more crowded.
Newark isn’t all bad, especially if you’re used to gritty city life, but I wouldn’t recommend putting a deposit on a place sight unseen.
South Orange is also very close to UMDNJ. Just five miles. I lived right on the border of Newark and South Orange (in a neighborhood called Ivy Hill), and when I didn’t have a car, I’d ride my bike to school. I was the envy of all my classmates who had to suffer through long commutes. Traffic in Northern NJ can be a nightmare.
The thing about that area is that you can go from a very nice neighborhood to downtown Baghdad in about a block. Scratch that, I’m in Baghdad and I feel safer than in some places in Newark. I will second that Maplewood and West Orange are nice but can be expensive. South Orange has good and bad areas. Stay away from Irvington. Small in area but higher per capita crime rate than Newark.