Hi everyone!
I just wondering if anyone has an opinion on which place is a better place to live: Fort Lee, NJ or the area around Fort Monmouth, NJ. I was offered jobs near both locations and considering I have never been to either areas I would really appreciate any input on which places I would enjoy the most. I’m looking for the nicest, safest location that is both convenient and easy to travel to NYC, away from ghettos.
Thanks!
The areas around both are expensive, but in Monmouth County you’re not really on top of each other as you are in Fort Lee. Think of it this way, which would you rather deal with: traffic to the city or traffic to the shore?
I’m rather biased, but I’d take my chances with living near Ft. Monmouth. You have the beaches, plenty to do and see, and are still an hour by train to NYC. Plus, when they’re BRACed in 4 years, your job may move to the mid-atlantic Mecca of APG.
How much money does the job pay?
Consider how often you’ll be going to the city, and which parts of the city you’ll be going to. From some parts of Fort Lee, you can just walk across the George Washington Bridge and the subway will take you wherever you want. From Fort Monmouth, it’s an hour’s drive to downtown, more or less, depending on traffic.
I grew up in northern NJ and also lived in Monmouth County for some time. Personally, if your job offer is not in NYC, I would go with Ft. Monmouth. You’re still close enough to get into the city to enjoy it, but far enough away not to deal with the daily congestion, etc. In the summer you’ll have crowds going to the shore of course, but it’s a nicer area.
Fort Lee is right across the bridge from Harlem. If you want easy access to NYC, it is the way to go. However, it is very very expensive. Other parts of Bergen County are less expensive, and public transit is very good.
I’ve lived in Bergen County for over 20 years, don’t know a damn thing about the other place…
I lived in Ft. Lee for a couple of years, and it was so cool to be able to walk across the bridge to Manhattan. But yeah, it was expensive . . . but worth it, for me (YMMV).
But you don’t have to walk, there are tons of buses or, of course, you can drive.
around 70K/year
Anyone has any idea how much rent is in both locations? Any clues on house prices?
gatorman–If you want, e-mail me and I can e-mail you some listings (rental and sales) for the area.–Annie-Xmas, local real estate person
Off to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
If you really want to experience NYC, another option is to actually live there and reverse-commute to Ft. Lee. You could live on the upper East or West side and drive to Ft. Lee in 20 minutes, tops.
On 70K a year he’s gonna own a car while living in Manhattan?
snorf
As others have said, Ft. Lee is right across the GWB from NYC and there are many buses that run across to Washington Heights. I’ve had a few friends who lived there and it’s a pretty nice area.
Another friend of the family’s lived in Middletown, NJ, also in Monmouth County and actually a bit closer to NYC than Ft. Monmouth. It seemed like a LONG ways aways to me whenever we visited, at least an hour drive. So if being convenient to NYC is a goal of yours, it’s Ft. Lee for sure, unless your definition of “convenient” means “I can visit it without too much trouble over the weekend or with advance planning” as opposed to “I would like to be able go to clubs, museums or restaurants on a whim and after work”.
It will definitely be cheaper in Monmouth though. Ft. Lee is cheaper than NYC but you will still be paying a premium for its proximity and short commute into the city.
Well there’s a lot I don’t know, like if the car is paid for, is gatorman bringing anybody along, is living in a studio apartment in Manhattan attractive to him (or is sharing a bigger apt.), what his other expenses are, and so on.
It doesn’t cost anything to park (since he’ll be gone during street cleaning) and gas to & from Ft. Lee is minimal. Yes there’s the toll and increased insurance, but unless he’s making big car payments and/or a crappy driving record is involved, the expense shouldn’t be too great. I think it’s doable, but it depends on what his other expenses are, and, of course, if living in Manhattan is something he wants to try out. I imagine quite a few of his possible future co-workers are doing it.
I don’t think you have anything to worry about safety-wise. They’re both forts after all.
Why would anyone want to pick up the extra tax burden of living in NYC when not working in NYC?
Except for being close to Yankee Stadium, I see no good reason to live in Fort Lee.
This is a good resource for apartments in the Fort Monmouth area.
Fort Monmouth is basically Eatontown, Ocean Township and Tinton Falls for rentals. The prices start around $775 and go up quickly. There is plenty of shopping in the area, an easy train ride to NYC and the Beach as you mentioned. I grew up near Fort Monmouth and I still live close. The area is suburban with rural touches. Fort Lee is City with inner city touches. Fort Monmouth is much safer and much less ghetto.
If you are willing to go up into the $1200 range, you can live very close to the beaches and still have a 15-minute commute to work. If you want rural, you can go 15-20 minutes west of Fort Monmouth instead. If you want a little city, look into Red Bank, drive to work, but it is a great walking town to pubs, restaurants and the train. In fact, if you are single, I would seriously consider Red Bank. It is a great little city. Just Email me first as part of the west side is still a little ghetto.
Jim
I had a friend who lived in Fort Lee, right across from the CNBC building, and it was a total pain getting around. The massive GWB approach runs right through the place. Also the Palisades Parkway just kind of ends randomly on one side of town.
I still have no idea how to get to their place… every single time I visited I got lost.
I am about 50/50 navigating Fort Lee, NYC is easy by comparison to navigate. (even Manhattan, I know where I am going, I just can’t move quite often in Manhattan 
)
Jim
Hmmm, you have a point. Most of the difficulty in finding street parking in Manhattan is in finding space on the non-cleaning side of the street due to “alternate side of the street” rules, so people can leave their car parked all day. If he’s driving off in the car in the daytime, he increases his chances of finding a parking spot due to the people avoiding the spots that will have street cleaning the next day.
It’ll still won’t be all that easy (my wife and I visit my in-laws on the UWS many weeknight evenings and still end up using a parking garage about 25% of the time after giving ourselves 15 minutes of circling around for a 5-block radius), but I’ll admit it could be doable.
Snorf partially retracted!
To be in or close to the vast playground that is NYC… You may love the Yanks, but the city has a lot more to offer than the excitement of 2007 AL Wild Card Fever baseball.
I know several people who undertake “reverse commutes”, living in Manhattan while working jobs in NJ, LI or CT. The “tax burden” is offset (to them) by the quality of living when they’re not at work. They’re single, have lots of free time and disposable income, and like being in the middle of a place where they can mingle and spend without driving. It’s not what I would choose myself at this point in my life, being married with kids and all, but I can certainly sympathize (and even to a degree, reminisce and envy).
As I said earlier, choosing Ft. Monmouth over Ft. Lee basically means choosing only to go into NYC on weekends or on planned trips, and forgo the spontaneity of really being right there (or across the bridge). Which may be fine – gatorman’s OP was a little vague on the context of his wanting a place “convenient and easy to travel to NYC”.
It just seems like if you live in the city, it usually pays to find a job in the city. As a programmer, salaries are always better in the City, so maybe my view is skewed.
He could get an apartment near the station in Red Bank and have an easy run to the city after work or on the weekends and still have a very short commute to Ft. Monmouth.
As you mentioned the Op needs to return and give us a little more info. If he wants to hit the NYC clubs nightly, then living in the city would make sense. Even in my twenties, I was boring enough that hitting NYC only on the weekends and for some midweek Yankee games was enough for me. I never clubbed, so this idea failed to cross my mind last night.
As I think about it, I would rather live in the City than Fort Lee. That is more a reflection on Fort Lee though. It is not a nice area.
Jim