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I voted the Gold Coast CT suburbs, but was pretty close with Westchester. While I won't make a judgement call on who gets to be called the Gold Coast (because, who cares), tough to top the NYC area for prestigious suburbs.
Interestingly, I'd be tempted to vote for the North Shore of LI here as well, which is super posh and frankly gorgeous, but there is a bit of a LI stigma attached in the same way there is one for NJ, deserved or not. Most people who move to LI have some type of existing tie to the area, whereas people not from the area choose to live elsewhere in the tri-state. That's just my anecdotal observation from being someone living in NYC but not originally from the area (and knowing many others like me).
I actually understand the exclusion of NJ here, as there isn't a single contiguous area that would fall under the "prestigious" umbrella (outside of some exurban areas that are only borderline commutable to NYC). And this is from someone that would (and likely eventually will) purposely choose the NJ suburbs over the other NYC options. But, the "prestigious" towns like Saddle River and Alpine are full of garish new money estates befitting the Real Housewives (go ahead and street view them and you'll see what I mean). What NJ does have is a great mix of really-nice-but-not-exclusive lively towns with village centers, good schools and good transit. I would take Ridgewood over neighboring Saddle River 10 out of 10 times, even if they were priced at parity. But I wouldn't call Ridgewood "prestigious" in the same way as Rye or New Canaan. And similar to LI, there is a bit of a stigma as well, for whatever reason.
I voted the Gold Coast CT suburbs, but was pretty close with Westchester. While I won't make a judgement call on who gets to be called the Gold Coast (because, who cares), tough to top the NYC area for prestigious suburbs.
Interestingly, I'd be tempted to vote for the North Shore of LI here as well, which is super posh and frankly gorgeous, but there is a bit of a LI stigma attached in the same way there is one for NJ, deserved or not. Most people who move to LI have some type of existing tie to the area, whereas people not from the area choose to live elsewhere in the tri-state. That's just my anecdotal observation from being someone living in NYC but not originally from the area (and knowing many others like me).
I actually understand the exclusion of NJ here, as there isn't a single contiguous area that would fall under the "prestigious" umbrella (outside of some exurban areas that are only borderline commutable to NYC). And this is from someone that would (and likely eventually will) purposely choose the NJ suburbs over the other NYC options. But, the "prestigious" towns like Saddle River and Alpine are full of garish new money estates befitting the Real Housewives (go ahead and street view them and you'll see what I mean). What NJ does have is a great mix of really-nice-but-not-exclusive lively towns with village centers, good schools and good transit. I would take Ridgewood over neighboring Saddle River 10 out of 10 times, even if they were priced at parity. But I wouldn't call Ridgewood "prestigious" in the same way as Rye or New Canaan. And similar to LI, there is a bit of a stigma as well, for whatever reason.
Not sure how long you've lived in the area but I wouldn't classify Saddle River or Alpine as "new money" towns. Sure you get celebs and newer money people in these towns however these towns are some of the older, more established big money towns in NJ and they have been for generations now. These two enclaves have long been listed among the most exclusive towns in the country. Now if you want to talk a few towns over and newer, ostentatious money with annoying Housewives and their ilk that would be Franklin Lakes. Also a few other nearby towns like Mahwah got overrun with the new money crowd in the last 15-20 years even though it's still a mixed town socioeconomically.
Saddle River and Alpine have long been bedroom communities for the upper crust including former Presidents of the United States (Nixon lived in Saddle River for almost two decades up until his death).
And regarding Ridgewood, it's a great town but don't think for a second that people from Ridgewood don't thumb their noses to the other surrounding towns. Ridgewood has always had the "Waspy/Upper Crust" air to it similar to a Westchester old money town even even though some of the aforementioned towns to the North of R'wood have crazier, bigger estates.
I think the biggest contrasts in Massachusetts illustrating the fortress gold plated suburb vs the failed city next to it are Springfield-Longmeadow and Lawrence-Andover. Where I used to own in Winchester was like that with Medford but Medford has gentrified significantly since I was there. Waltham isn’t a failed city. You’re not going from a housing project to the home owned by a millionaire in 1/2 mile. The Andover County Club is right on the Lawrence line. My Vermont next door neighbor has a house there. It’s a really abrupt transition.
Places with strong county government with regional schools don’t usually have that level of abrupt transition.
I think the biggest contrasts in Massachusetts illustrating the fortress gold plated suburb vs the failed city next to it are Springfield-Longmeadow and Lawrence-Andover. Where I used to own in Winchester was like that with Medford but Medford has gentrified significantly since I was there. Waltham isn’t a failed city. You’re not going from a housing project to the home owned by a millionaire in 1/2 mile. The Andover County Club is right on the Lawrence line. My Vermont next door neighbor has a house there. It’s a really abrupt transition.
Places with strong county government with regional schools don’t usually have that level of abrupt transition.
Bromley Heath/Mission Hill to Brookline is a big one.
CT and NJ have bigger contrast (Maplewood/Irvington, Paterson/Fair Lawn) (Bridgeport/Fairfield, Hartford/West Hartford)
I think the biggest contrasts in Massachusetts illustrating the fortress gold plated suburb vs the failed city next to it are Springfield-Longmeadow and...
With Springfield-Longmeadow, the contrast is great but not abrupt. Longmeadow borders the city's Forest Park and Forest Park neighborhood. This choice Springfield neighborhood is tucked into Forest Park right on the Longmeadow town line. The park itself is a first rate city park and the Forest Park neighborhood on the Springfield side of the park isn't too shabby either.
Anyways, I'd pick the top NYC tri-state suburbs since that's the most affluent city in the country. I have Vermont ski friends from all the fancy suburbs. It's splitting hairs picking between the best of North Jersey, Westchester, Nassau, and lower Fairfield. The financial industry is where all the money is. Do I have to pick one? I guess Greenwich.
Sorry, but at both the city and the metro level, San Francisco just about laps it, and Boston also tops New York.
City income figures:
New York, $43,046 per capita income, $69,407 MHI
Boston, $48,978 per capita income, $79,018 MHI
San Francisco, $75,084 per capita income, $123,859 MHI
Figures for the metro level:
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-CT-PA, $46,241 per capita, $83,160 MHI
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, $50,421 per capita, $94,430 MHI
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, $60,223 per capita, $114,696 MHI
(2019 ACS 1-year data from U.S. Census Bureau via Census Reporter)
Note also that San Francisco is its own "affluent suburb": the rest of the Bay Area drags the numbers down.
The North Shore of Long Island has long been called the Gold Coast, for well over a hundred years. More recently the Hudson waterfront of New Jersey has taken on the name. Now Fairfield is the Gold Coast as well? I guess anyplace with alot of wealthy people is going to be called the Gold Coast in the future lol.
The North Shore of Long Island has long been called the Gold Coast, for well over a hundred years. More recently the Hudson waterfront of New Jersey has taken on the name. Now Fairfield is the Gold Coast as well? I guess anyplace with alot of wealthy people is going to be called the Gold Coast in the future lol.
I voted the Gold Coast CT suburbs, but was pretty close with Westchester. While I won't make a judgement call on who gets to be called the Gold Coast (because, who cares), tough to top the NYC area for prestigious suburbs.
Interestingly, I'd be tempted to vote for the North Shore of LI here as well, which is super posh and frankly gorgeous, but there is a bit of a LI stigma attached in the same way there is one for NJ, deserved or not. Most people who move to LI have some type of existing tie to the area, whereas people not from the area choose to live elsewhere in the tri-state. That's just my anecdotal observation from being someone living in NYC but not originally from the area (and knowing many others like me).
I agree with this, and I'm a huge Long Island homer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dcb175
I actually understand the exclusion of NJ here, as there isn't a single contiguous area that would fall under the "prestigious" umbrella (outside of some exurban areas that are only borderline commutable to NYC). And this is from someone that would (and likely eventually will) purposely choose the NJ suburbs over the other NYC options. But, the "prestigious" towns like Saddle River and Alpine are full of garish new money estates befitting the Real Housewives (go ahead and street view them and you'll see what I mean). What NJ does have is a great mix of really-nice-but-not-exclusive lively towns with village centers, good schools and good transit. I would take Ridgewood over neighboring Saddle River 10 out of 10 times, even if they were priced at parity. But I wouldn't call Ridgewood "prestigious" in the same way as Rye or New Canaan. And similar to LI, there is a bit of a stigma as well, for whatever reason.
Spot on re Alpine. It might be the most expensive suburb in New Jersey, but it will never be the most prestigious one. I feel Greenwich in CT almost suffers from the same thing (though not nearly as extreme as the Alpine example). If pressed I'd say that Darien is more "prestigious" than Greenwich, whatever that means.
The North Shore of Long Island has long been called the Gold Coast, for well over a hundred years. More recently the Hudson waterfront of New Jersey has taken on the name. Now Fairfield is the Gold Coast as well? I guess anyplace with alot of wealthy people is going to be called the Gold Coast in the future lol.
Fairfield has been considered the Gold Coast for decades, and rightfully so considering it’s a cluster of some of the wealthiest towns in the country.
Every state has one. CA’s is Orange County. NY’s is the north shore (should be the Hamptons), FL’s is Palm Beach to Miami, etc.
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