Best NEW JERSEY Cities to Live?????

We just moved to south orange because we fell in love with maplewood/south orange area. Lots of community, good schools, and good(ish) commute to NYC if you need that. Sidewalks and great parks. Good luck!

You have gotten a lot of good suggestions (except Trenton, sorry, Trenton is NOT a good place to live) but we need more information as to what part of NJ you want to live in. Can you tell us if you want to live in the north or the south? How much do you want to spend on rent? You really need to narrow down what area you want to live in and then find a realtor since there is really no realtor that specializes in ALL of NJ. BTW, I wasn't born here but I love living here. Lots of human and family services.

Shameless plug for my town: Morristown! I am not from here, but I love it here. Close to NYC (you can take the train) and an hour from beaches, lots of shops, restaurants, town pools, parks, a great moms group. A historic revolutionary town with a "green" in the center of town. My son will start kindergarten in the fall and we have three schools/options to choose from--all of them good options.

Like Mira, I'm going to recommend my own town -- Fair Lawn. Reasonable prices (for Bergen County), good schools, lots of families, lots of community activities, not too far from NYC. You could also check out Ridgewood and Paramus.

Plainsboro or West Windsor are next to Princeton but not as expensive, plus they have an excellent school system.
I think the person who referred to Trenton actually meant Ewing or Hopewell. Ewing has an ok school system and Hopewell' s is good

Highland Park, in central Jersey near Rutgers, is a wonderful community, just about universally beloved by residents. First-rate public schools. It's 50 minutes to NYC by train -- doable for some, a deal-breaker for others.

If you're looking for somewhere closer in, I'd check out Bergen County. Lots of towns with great schools, though I personally don't know enough to recommend one over another.

Or, there's always Princeton, though it's ridiculously expensive and a long commute.

Send me a message if you want a realtor rec for Highland Park.

Check out Bernardsville or Basking Ridge. Schools are great, lots of open space for kids to play, community pool in Basking Ridge is pretty awesome.

We have friends that live in Haddonfield, and rave about it. They moved there for the schools (from Chicago).
Very cute little town, 20 minutes outside of Philly.

Cherry Hill is great - clean, new and if you want suburban convenience - bleh for this city girl but awesome for the "non-adventurous".

Trenton is a classic New Jersey town - old but updated meaning it has the old charm of Older New England but utilities and roads and even neighborhoods are kept up because of the university. Not a heck of alot of family friendly options close by but they aren't far either, and they have a great public library. *Yes, I mean Ewing Township. I lived there but my address was also Trenton and more people know about Trenton than Ewing. I loved my few months there, sans the lack of a good mexican food restaurant.

Princeton is AWESOME - I love ivy league towns. Not as big and grand as say Harvard or Yale, but the vibe there is amazing. I lived there before I had kids and I wish I could raise my son in that area. I would totally pay the $8K/mo mortgage to be able to raise a family there ha ha.

I hate Lake Hopactong - scenery is nice but the schools (building and staff) seem a bit run down and the homes are just too expensive and old and run down. Everyone I know there seem to be struggling financially, can't make ends meet and just seem downright miserable to live there. (sorry for anyone who lives there). I got the same feeling in Newton but then again I have a love/hate relationship with Newton because while I never lived there I have family I visit alot there and I ALWAYS get lost.