understood! So if a car is necessary and you will be commuting in, I would say live near to a highway, with the three access points to the city being the GWB, Lincoln and Holland tunnels. Decent and affordable towns (house, apartments) , you have Clifton right off rt 3, Saddle brook and Elmwood park right off 80, and Kearny has backroad 7 and 78. If you want me to be more specific, also let me know if you are looking to rent an apartment or house ! NJ is pretty diverse, I wouldn't bother with anything outside of Essex Bergen Passaic Hudson (I own a home in Union county but its too far for me, so I rented it)