Information about living costs in NJ, USA

[RandomLemming 0]

All,

This is so far away from the topic of skydiving, but I thought I'd throw myself on your mercy and beg of your combined knowledge.

A dream I've had since I was about 7 years old looks like it might be entering the next stage, but I need a load of information about living costs, etc. so that I can come up with a salary to ask for.

The office I would be working in is in Jersey City, New Jersey (nearest public transport that I remember is the PATH station at Hoboken). The main office is in Manhatten. Does anyone know what a decent salary for a unix engineer / senior SA / project manager for an investment bank would be in those parts?

To bring the topic ever so slightly back onto skydiving, how would I go about finding a place to live? Ideally, I'm looking for somewhere about an hour away from the office, and about an hour away from a halfway decent dropzone. What can I expect to pay in rent for a 3 bedroom house in that part of the world ?

When I moved to the UK 7 years ago, I made some huge mistakes. I took two jobs (at the same time), both well under what I could have been earning at the time, and I'm desparate not to make the mistake again. Ideally I'd like to maintain the same quality of life as I have here :)

Any advice / links / pointers would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

[selbbub78 0]

Well you can do both of that very easily. I just moved from NJ. You can either live in NJ north or south about an hour from north area in the bloomingdale area and be an hour from the ranch...

Now you can live south of Jersey city, hightstown area and be about an hour from Crosskeys. Granted you also have to take traffic into consideration. It might make more sense to live closer to where you work, and have a slightly longer drive to the dropzones, but plan on crashing at them or something.

NJ is a little bit more pricey, so salaries are higher. How much experience do you have? The PATH station is probably the best public transpotation to take, which will/would take you right to Jersey City.

If you do move to NJ you'll have to very good DZs to choose from.


CReW Skies,
bubbles

"Women fake orgasms - men fake whole relationships" – Sharon Stone
"The world is my dropzone" (wise crewdog quote)
"The light dims, until full darkness pierces into the world."-KDM

[RandomLemming 0]

I've got about 12 years experience... I've just heard back from the company and they're prepared to offer $100,000 per year plus medical / dental and bonuses. That doesn't sound great if I convert it to pounds right now, but as long as I can live comfortably on it, I would be happy.

What is public transport like in NJ? How far out of Jersey city could I live and still get in on public transport ? I'm used to a 1 - 1.5 hour commute each way here in the UK.

The DZ situation actually sounds quite good :)

Thanks

[FlyingJ 0]

NJ Transit has a pretty thorough train/bus system, and when I lived in NYC I knew people coming from two hours away in NJ that took public transportation the whole way. Others would drive about halfway until they got to a point where traffic started getting bad and do a park and ride from that point.

I miss public transportation!

http://www.njtransit.com

Killing threads since 2004.

[Gawain 0]

I can't tell you what kind of salary to shoot for, but I can tell you that the northeastern seaboard of the US is amongst the most expesive housing in the country. However, there are quite a number of good paying jobs as well.

Hoboken, NJ for example, is a decent, upwardly mobile city now. It's an easy commute to NYC.

You can do some serious "city report" research at www.homefair.com, then click on "City Reports".

I set one up for Hoboken as an example only, it's a pretty decent summary: http://www.homefair.com/find_a_place/cityprofile/results.asp?Zip=07030

You might check with www.payscale.com. It's fairly detailed and may give some good perspective (re: salary) and help shape a competitive salary negotiation.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[sraja 0]

That is a decent salary for the experience and work you are doing. I live in NJ for 15 days a month and remaining in Chicago. I would recommend you look for housing either in North Jersey - condos rent for approx 1100$ pm or Central Jersey (commute to work would be 30mins by train) but rent would be 1000$ pm. Look at apartments.com for a better picture. Another option is to look for housing in craigslist.org - you can find some good places there. You have Skydive Sussex, Crosskeys and the Ranch to choose from for DZs - all of them would involve significant commute but if it is only going to be once a week, that is a fair compromise.

[RandomLemming 0]

Thanks - that's dead helpful.

I need somewhere with a small garden for my dog, so I'm expecting to pay a bit more rent...

[RandomLemming 0]

Thanks - those are some excellent links there!

I think my biggest problem initially was trying to work out where to look, just not knowing anything about the geography in that area, but I've had some great tips so at least I can get an idea now.

[Gawain 0]

Quote

Thanks - those are some excellent links there!

I think my biggest problem initially was trying to work out where to look, just not knowing anything about the geography in that area, but I've had some great tips so at least I can get an idea now.

My suggestion is also to not limit yourself to just the New York metro area. The IT "anchors" of the country are farther west, Silicon Valley (San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale), LA to San Diego and many areas around Seattle. Texas has some solid services industries. Sun Microsystems is based in Santa Clara, California.

Also, if you're single, it's worth it because some of these smaller areas are just great to live: Atlanta, Georgia (from personal experiene); Austin, Texas (from what people tell me); Silicon Valley, Portland, Oregon; and yes, the NYC metro area too (from personal experience).

Each state has its own character where you might find a good opportunity for your skills. You might score a job in Florida that doesn't pay as much, but it may not matter to you because 1, Florida is much less expensive to live in than NJ and 2, you might be able to live within 10 minutes of a DZ...hey, you never know...

So, basically, I'd look for the job, then see where it is, and figure out if that matches your sense of adventure to live somewhere new...

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!