Moving Back to NJ - Hoboken or Central NJ?
Hi everyone! I'm originally from Central NJ (Monmouth county/jersey shore area) and recently moved back to Manhattan. Prior to that to that lived in NYC for 4 years, Brooklyn for a bit, and finally Atlantic Highlands before having to relocate briefly to STL for work. I'm 34F and now that I'm back in Manhattan realize its entirely too much for me at this point in my life. I have a large dog and a cat, I miss my car (its at my mom's in central NJ because parking in NYC is obviously a nightmare), and the lack of pace/amount of people/etc. has just been a general L on my mental health - so much so that i'm breaking my lease early, because why pay an absurd amount of rent if I don't even like living here.
I'm trying to decide between Hoboken and Central NJ. I've never considered Hoboken before and have only visited a few times and its cute, but I absolutely hated Brooklyn. Realistically I'm looking for more space and quiet as the pace of NYC isn't livable for me anymore, but rental options in Central NJ are limited and I'm worried about being too isolated. While i have flexibility to work remotely, I also need to be in Dumbo regularly (3-4x a week) because I compete as a boxer and my coaches work out of there. I've made the commute in from central NJ and while it's a pain in the ass, I don't mind it as the Seastreak is nice and I can work on it. Part of me thinks I should try Hoboken before going back to Central NJ, and I do like the people I've met in Hoboken much more than the people I met in Brooklyn. But I also don't really care for nightlife and my weekends are typically based on a workout, going to the farmers market, cooking, etc. and I miss having access to all the local farms and better quality food available in Central NJ. Realistically I just don't want to move to Hoboken and realize that I'm running into the same issues I'm running into by way of living in NYC. Any advice would be appreciated thank you!