Bolly

Where would be a good place to live within 30 minutes commute of Wall Street but somewhere that doesn't actually feel like you live in NY?

My fiance has several opportunities to relocate his job to NY but says he hates it there. Personally, I've never been but would love to go. He has only ever been there on business and only really seen Manhattan. I've explained to him that, as with London, there must be several areas outside Manhattan that are commutable equivalents of somewhere like Kingston in Surrey.

Any ideas?

Manc

get married first.

christmasoompa

Personally, I love NY, and I'm not normally a city girl at all! But if it helps at all, my cousin recently worked in NY for a few years, and they lived in Ridgefield, Connecticut. They liked it there and the commute was not too long so that might be an area worth looking at.

But, as Manc said, you wouldn't be able to go with him anyway unless you are married, so that's the point you'd need to address first!!

Good luck.

Bolly

Getting wed before we go is no problem. Ridgefield? Over an hour on the train to Grand Central so no good. His current commute is 1h 45m door to door and he wants to seriously cut that down to 30mins max. He is tired of his live revolving around work and getting to and from it. We were thinking more like, are there any nice areas in Queens or Bronx. That kind of thing. Areas that have their own community and feel like you're nicely out of the city, even if you're not.

elfman

It depends where in the city his job would be, and how much he'd be earning.
You can commute from several nice suburban communities in NJ in under an hour (eg Montclair), but 30 mins? You'll be lucky.

christmasoompa

Well I understood it took him less time than that, hence why I suggested it.

TimFountain

Well, if this part is true, your BF needs to re-consider the whole concept of moving to the US. Long hours and log commutes are the norm here, and most companies don't think twice about asking you to work extra hours and weekends at no expense to them. For most US workers, the job is their life.

- Tim

pejpm1

Hoboken, NJ is nice. Literally across the river.

Big D

Westchester - 30 -60 minutes to GCT, pain the arse to get down to wall street then though, probably another 20 minutes on the metro

lapin_windstar

30 minutes to Wall St might be pushing it for a truly suburban house. Depending on how rich you are, you might consider a nice brownstone in Brooklyn which has space, green trees, and isn't like Manhattan.

Otherwise, I would have thought you'd be looking at New Jersey or possibly one of the sprawl neighbourhoods in Sth Brooklyn/Queens if there are good ferry links. There are big, suburban houses in Staten Island (some quite plush) but the two problems are the lack of direct road/rail link to Manhattan and (frankly) a slightly tacky image, which might be undeserved. You should check out which ferries serve downtown Manhattan, too.

Where do his future colleagues work? They will have likely the same class/lifestyle/commuting preferences in any case.

One Hung Lo

Staten Island - free ferry from St George's Terminal to Manhatten. Leave the car at home and enjoy the daily cruise.

goatherder

i'll be in new providence, NJ soon. 35 mins to mid town direct.

Have no idea where a job will be however....

Summit is worth checking out - many more trains from there.

Rete

A nice area of the Bronx is Country Club area around the Throggs Neck bridge and on the otherside of the same bridge is Queens and some nice areas there.

Note, however, that even in Queens and the Bronx and its close proximity to Manhattan does not insure a 30 minute commute by public and/or private transportation. There are no subways close to that area of the Bronx and Queens and he will have to either take an express bus into the city and/or a bus to the subway. Subways are usually locals and stop on the average of every 10 blocks.

Living close to a train station (not a subway) where you can use either the Long Island Railroad or Metro North would make the commute easier at least to mid-town with a subway ride to lower Manhattan from there.

Check out areas of Westchester County, Nassau County, Staten Island, Brooklyn (some nice up and coming areas there), and even parts of NJ such as Hoboken and Jersey City. Don't discount some areas of Manhattan. Many parts of Manhattan are being gentrified and living in those areas are like living in a separate town from Manhattan.

Rete

There are several new ferry services on the Hudson for towns in Westchester and Rockland Counties. Their final destination is lower Manhattan.

robin1234

Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx is pretty nice. Train, bus-to-subway, or express bus goes to New York. Plenty of other excellent residential areas in the Bronx a little further out, too. Wave Hill is one of the nicest public gardens in the northeast.
http://www.wavehill.org/home/