Everything You Need to Know About Moving to New Jersey

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By Semya-Moya Updated October 21, 2021

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New Jersey is becoming a popular destination for young people looking for career advancements. The awesome shores aren't the only reason to head to New Jersey. Quality of life, low unemployment rates, and a lot of other things make it a very attractive destination. Read on to find out more.

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Everyone dreams of staying in fascinating places and cities. New Jersey, in recent years, has become one of those places. The Garden State is not only modern, cool, and friendly, but is also fast becoming a popular destination for young people.

If you've never heard good things about New Jersey, well, here's everything that you should know.

Top 5 Reasons to Move to New Jersey

Beaches

New Jersey has fascinating shores that offer an amazing beach experience to its residents. Besides the Jersey shore, other beach areas include the Ocean Grove, Avalon, Cape May, and many others. Surfing, obviously, is pretty popular here.

Quality Healthcare

With its established hospitals, the state also has a lot of trained health practitioners. New Jersey is a pioneer in healthcare. Every resident in New Jersey must have health insurance coverage. Even though the penalty clause from Obamacare doesn't exist anymore, New Jersey has its own laws.

Put simply, you have to be covered.

Cost of Living

Renting or buying a home in New Jersey is relatively affordable. Also, the utility bills in the state don't cost much and the price of gas is almost 7% lower than the national average.

What's more, if suburbs are your thing, the property prices aren't too high there… yet.

Employment Opportunities:

95% of New Jersey's residents are employed. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the biggest employers in the state. Food processing and healthcare jobs are booming too.

Educational Facilities

When it comes to the education sector, New Jersey has many institutions that offer quality education. Among them is Princeton University, which is one of the top-ranked colleges in the U.S.

Apart from the headline-grabbing universities, New Jersey also has an excellent schooling system. In fact, for Pre K-12 education, the state is actually the third best in the country.

Quality of Life

New Jersey is among the top states in the U.S that offers when it comes to quality of life. They have a high index score of 147.31. Also, with an employment rate of 95%, New Jersey is one of the best places to work and advance your career. Most workers move to the state to look for good jobs.

Tourism has now taken off in New Jersey. The 130-mile coastline is drawing crowds like never before. It's is one of the major factors that contribute to the state's Gross Domestic Product of about $581.1 billion.

The latest reports show that New Jersey has an annual average household income of about $105, 917. The per capita income is approximately $39,069. Additionally, 11.9% of people in the state earn over $200,000 per year.

Economic Outlook

The rate of employment in New Jersey increases every year showing positive economic growth. After the great recession, New Jersey has been experiencing steady economic growth to date.

Many economists credit this to the fact that New Jersey has accepted the post-suburban industrial era and is embracing it. With an anticipated increase in wages in 2019, moving to New Jersey now is wise.

A report from the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis states that there was a 4.2% increase in wages for Jersey's employees in the third quarter of 2018. The state is also working on increasing the minimum wage to $15.

For example, in the first quarter of 2018, the state's GDP growth rose by 2.5% (the fastest growth rate since 2011).

Housing Market Forecast

If you're moving to New Jersey, it's a pretty good idea to start investing in real estate as soon as possible. The ‘boom' hasn't happened yet. However, it's on the verge of blowing up.

Play your cards right, and you can end up with a fantastic investment.

According to the Garden State Realtors' president, the housing market of New Jersey is likely to grow significantly in 2019. The report follows a healthy housing market witnessed in the previous year. One of the factors that contribute to a stable housing market is the high rate of employment in the state.

With an increase in the number of ready-to-move homes, many of Jersey's residents are likely to buy homes in 2019. The houses are affordable, and you just have to pay small amounts as a down payment.

If you're buying a home for the first time, there are a lot of schemes and programs designed to help you.

Just a quick tip: If you're moving to any of the big cities, know this. Buying nearer to the city is always better.

When it comes to home mortgages in New Jersey, the rates have increased a bit in the previous months, and the trend could move on in 2019.

Currently, the average home value in the Garden State is approximately $326,300. There has been an increase in home value over the past years. If studies are anything to go by, they will increase by about 5% this year and more with time.

Next Steps

If you're moving to New Jersey, the best thing to do is to find an expert Clever Partner Agent. They'll be able to help you when it comes to navigating the local laws. But more importantly, there are bargains in New Jersey currently. If you're looking to buy a place to call home, experienced local real estate agents can help you hunt down these bargains.

If initial funds are a problem, FHA loans are popular in New Jersey. Buying a home doesn't have to start off by blowing a huge hole in your pocket. With these loans, you can buy yourself a nice home and just pay 3.5% as down payment.

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