Hoboken's only a square mile, and JC is roughly the size of St. Louis. So rather than trying to make an apples-to-apples comparison, think of Hoboken as Jersey City's most overpriced, parking-deprived, overrun-with-bros neighborhood, and ask the real question, which is, which JC neighborhood do you want to live in.

Personally, I think if you're going for LUXURY, you're overpaying, but anything close to the Hudson River (ie. downtown) is going to be what you're looking for, and anywhere downtown is going to be close to transit.

As for bars/nightlife/meeting people, Grove St. is really the center of things (and also a subway station). No nature trails to speak of, but lots of bike lanes, and believe it or not there are a few good nature spots in Jersey City — the back half of Lincoln Park on the west side is a nature preserve that sits on the Hackensack River (now with much less pollution!), and Caven Point in Liberty State Park is a gem — a little hidden-away beach with a view of the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan, although it's closed in the summer because it's also a fragile migratory bird habitat.