Apartment Hunting, Jersey City Neighborhoods

December 1, 2013 1:48 PM

I'm a single female looking for a studio or one-bedroom apartment in Jersey City. My big concerns are: 1) safety, 2) affordability, and 3) ease of access to the city. Based on my preliminary research and a couple of apartment viewings, it seems nearly impossible to get all 3. I look at affordable apartments, then look up directions to my office and various activities in the city. I know that the official directions don't allow for things like the extra, non-Jersey transit busses that sometimes run frequently; however, I'm not aware of any way to research where the extra busses run. Specifically, there's a great apartment near Lincoln park, but if google directions are to be believed it will take me over an hour to get home from my weeknight meetings in midtown, which is highly undesirable. I've been defining "affordable" as 1200 or less, but I'm beginning to think I will have to adjust that in order to get the convenience. What advice can you give me about safe and convenient neighborhoods in Jersey City? [Asking on behalf of friend.]
posted by countrymod to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

$1200 for your own apartment in Jersey City in a decent neighborhood close to transportation is a pipe dream, I think. Jersey City is really on par with Brooklyn in terms of apartment prices these days, and you could not get that deal in Brooklyn.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:56 PM on December 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Stay away from Lincoln Park. It floods there very easily and is impossible to get in and out of when it floods. If you are still looking at affordable areas in Jersey, there is always the Edwards Garden Apartments in Parsippany. It is right at the intersection of 280 and 287. I lived there for a few years and was very happy with the place. Good location, well maintained, very safe, affordable rent, plus it is close to several major roads and it is easy to get to either a bus or train station for easy commuting into NYC. Also, during Sandy we had no problems getting anywhere since all of the major roads there were cleaned quickly and we easily had access to what we needed. Message me for details.
posted by Nackt at 3:40 PM on December 1, 2013

I don't know about prices, but we live near Journal Square and it's safe (I mean city safe, I'm sure if one is from the burbs it appears dangerous). My wife does the 12 minute walk to the PATH station every day.
posted by ob at 7:56 AM on December 2, 2013

I live in Newark (Forest Hill), but my roommate lived in JC Heights last year. Their place was a 10ish minute walk to either Journal Square PATH or the Hoboken station, and plenty safe. They paid about $1200 for a two-bedroom, which is the same as what we're paying in Newark atm.
posted by naturalog at 9:48 AM on December 2, 2013

My girlfriend recently lived near the Grove St. PATH and I think its by far the nicest part of the city with a pretty wide range of property types, giving some options for rent. I'm still there pretty much weekly for drinks or food with friends. Anecdotal evidence suggests somewhere around 1200 a month is doable with some searching.
posted by lownote at 10:34 AM on December 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

The non-NJ Transit busses are the jitneys, right? They can be annoying in their own way (drivers looking to pick up fares everywhere all of the time) but they are indeed extremely ubiquitous. When you're next checking out a neighborhood (in person) just ask anybody on the street where to get one to take you into the city. Chances are you could get on one within a 5 block radius.
posted by monospace at 1:04 PM on December 2, 2013