Does what I'm looking for in a town even exist in NJ? Are my wants too "goldilocks"?
Currently in West New York with a 2 year old and the schools are not great. We love the area but schooling is always on the back of my mind. I also can't afford a single family home so I will most likely rent for the rest of my life. I prefer apartments anyways bc I don't have to do any maintenance and I can use the down payment money to invest in index funds, etc.
I just want a good education that isn't a pressure cooker like bergen county academy or millburn. I grew up in demarest 30 years ago when the academics weren't as intense. If push comes to shove I'd rather put my kids in a good school system like shorthills/millburn/livingston/ridgewood to make sure they don't slip through the cracks.
Any suggestions? Below is my current thought process.
Jersey City looks great with the cornelia f bradford school but JC middle schools are meh and high school is McNair which is great but it has a reputation of being a pressure cooker and you have to test into it. only 750 kids total in that school. And I've read reddit threads where parents suggest hiring a tutor in middle school for PSAT's. Paulus hook is nice but expensive but such is the price to pay.
Short Hills - I can't afford a house but short hills has the upton which has rentals that fit in my budget. Downside is the pressure cooker high school but like mentioned above I'd rather go this route than a bad school system. Upton is odd location but near the mall which i guess is good during winters for strolls, etc.
Livingston - pretty good school system and I think it is not as pressure cooker as millburn? They do have some apartment complexes with rentals but the complexes are in weird areas of town. Pretty solid imo. The odd apartment complex rental is something I can live with as a trade off.
Ridgewood - good school system and they have the dayton complex right next to whole foods but vacancies are hard to come by. This is probably my #1 if there's an opening.
Northern valley demarest/old tappan - can't afford the homes here and there aren't any rentals so this is out unfortunately
Englewood cliffs - they have the new sylvan apartment complex near the CNBC studios but location is odd. Not a bad backup I guess. I heard that high school students may be going to tenafly instead of englewood?
Tenafly - can't afford a home there and not many rentals
Anywhere else that I'm missing? Sorry I guess this is the first world version of too goldilocks. Thank you!!
