14 best towns to live in NJ, according to U.S. News & World Report

As a U.S. News and World Report article puts it, “the Garden State has a lively arts scene, rich musical heritage and popular entertainment options, including the Atlantic City boardwalk and casinos.”

Right. It does. But that doesn’t mean you want live wherever you visit. Someone maybe should tell them that. Because you won’t believe some of the 14 towns they picked as the best places to live in New Jersey.

You could almost see them going wrong when you looked at their methodology. They factored things like short commute times, affordable houses and low rents. Guess where sometimes you have low rents and cheap houses? Yeah, in places you wouldn’t necessarily feel safe.

Sorry to be the Debbie Downer on this list, but where’s the data on things like crime rates and quality schools? I’ll just list them and see what you think. Feel free to email me if you think I’m off base, but I would never move my kids to half these towns.

SEE ALSO: Study shows you don’t want to be caught living in worst counties of NJ

The Top 14 best places to live in New Jersey

14 — Atlantic City

The average commute is 17 minutes, and the median household income is less than $40,000. But with the median monthly rent being $1,011 and the median home value at $221,352 I guess you don’t need to make that much?

13 — Camden

Yes, Camden. U.S. News and World Report claims this city is among the best places to live because it has a median home value of $128,055 and a median monthly rent of $959. Sure, its crime rate has dropped in recent years, yet Camden is still among New Jersey’s most dangerous cities. As are several of U.S. News and World Report’s “best” places to live. I’m sorry, is my skepticism showing?

12 — Trenton

Average commute is 21 minutes with median household income of $48,336.

11 — Newark

Hey, median monthly rent here is $1,150. Forget that whole violent crime odds 1 in 201 thing or property theft odds 1 in 43 pesky problem.

10 — Paterson

Now that we’re in the Top 10 best NJ towns to live I’m just going to list them. You can draw your own conclusions from here on out and if you want to see more of these commute and home value and median rent stats you’ll find the U.S. News and World Report piece here.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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