upscale areas of north jersey (milburn/shorthill/summit/morristown, etc) vs. fairfield county,ct (greenwich/darien,etc)? (Newark: house prices)

[welcome2nyc]

Can anybody compare pro/cons differences between the upscale neighborhoods of north jersey vs. fairfield county, Connecticut?
I don't know much, but from my internet research, it seems as though both have comparable housing costs, with CT being slightly more expensive. North jersey neighborhoods are close to newark airport which makes vacations very easy. (JFK airport has way too much traffic).

Please list any/all other differences, pros/cons, experiences, thoughts. I'm very new to NYC suburbs.

[AndrewMensch]

Remember that Long Island and Westchester also have "upscale" neighborhoods.

How does a town become upscale? The stores? How many BMWs and Audis parked at the local stores? Housing prices of $1M+ (or less these days)?

[ClearTheCobwebs]

I've lived in both before (though I'm currently residing out of the country now looking to get back into Fairfield county soon)

Land is actually more expensive in the NJ suburbs you mentioned and is in short supply (well, atleast in Millburn / Shorthills / Summit / Livingston) relative to Fairfield county (with a few exceptions, such as Old Greenwich close to the station). Property taxes are much higher in NJ (especially Short Hills / Millburn / Livingston) than in Fairfield county.

However, house prices are higher in Fairfield county due to higher acreages / larger homes.

Diversity (I guess this is important by looking at a prior post of yours): Those NJ suburbs have relatively a larger & active Asian (including & especially Indian) population (though there are probably more Japanese in Greenwich due to a Japanese school there). There is a Chinese school in Livinston and they they have Hindi / Indian classes on a few days of the week in a school in that same town. Not all NJ suburbs though: Chatham is notoriously homogeneous and not in a nice way (ie: impression is that they don't like people who aren't like them. I bought a house there and backed out before closing after learning this).

In Fairfield county, Darien is a bit more homogeneous relative to Greenwich and Stamford. There is a fairly large South Asian / Indian community in Stamford as well. Greenwich has a mixture of a few Latin American, Asian (especially Japanese) and European people.

Public schools: slightly better in those NJ towns (I'm comparing them with Greenwich & Darien and not Stamford which has reputedly relatively worse schools)

Beauty of towns: No doubt here: Fairfield county towns simply kill the NJ ones in this category.

[clevedark]

I hear that commuting into Grand Central is much more pleasant compared to the hell that is Penn Station.

I would look hard at CT now esp. in light of fiscal problems in NJ and skyrocketing property taxes. I'm desperate to move back to NJ for family and friends, but DH refuses for that reason. It's really sad.

[jubileefd]

Originally Posted by clevedark

I hear that commuting into Grand Central is much more pleasant compared to the hell that is Penn Station.

I would look hard at CT now esp. in light of fiscal problems in NJ and skyrocketing property taxes. I'm desperate to move back to NJ for family and friends, but DH refuses for that reason. It's really sad.

I think if it wasn't for family, most peole in the tri state area would be living in CT (insteand of NJ for reasons you listed).

[MommaBear2Cubs]

We love CT but we live here due to the proximity to Newark Airport--which my husband utilizes for business. Have to say that judging from talking to friends who live in those areas of CT, our schools here in Millburn are better....