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Health & Fitness

What it costs to live in NJ

Over the last couple of weeks I have been mulling over a report from Legal Services of New Jersey.  In it’s 12th edition of “The Cost of Living In New Jersey” report they declared that it takes almost $18  dollars an hour (about $27,000 a year) for a single person to put a roof over their head and have food regularly on the table.  Some counties, like our own Morris, require that a couple bring home at least $75,000 a year if they plan to have children.  Others like Cape May, families can get away with only $58,000.

I have two sons working, both for slightly over minimum wage who do not make the cut.  What does that say about their futures here in the garden state?  What does that say about how long they will continue to be trapped, living at home?  Right now, they cant afford to live anywhere else.  One, the older, has graduated college the other is mulling the prospect.

My youngest son is wondering whether it’s worth going to college at all.  He sees his older brother struggling and hasn’t made up his mind whether four more years of toil and debt is really worth it.  It is difficult to see in these times, but my wife and I are still singing the college song.  It’s a tough sell though.  It used to be very clear the advantages that college promised.  That’s one of the hidden costs of the recession in NJ, the erosion of our children’s confidence in systems that used to work very well.  However, there are better places to look for opportunities and advancement.  This is one reason it’s good to go away to school.  To study the “lay of the land” in another state and get used to other places.

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In another study from the Equality of Opportunity Project, NJ remains one of the places in the US where it is slightly more likely that your children will move up the wage/class scale.  It’s not nearly the best though.  Not even in the top half of the cities and states ranked.  If you live and work in Tom’s River your chances of upward mobility are slightly over ten percent, in Newark it’s 9.9.  Whereas if you’re from Bowman North Dakota it’s almost thirty percent.

In our pre-retirement age it’s also difficult to see whether it’s a good idea to stay.  There is so much to see and do here in northern NJ. Thanks to a rich immigrant heritage the cuisine is as varied as anyone could possibly imagine. The climate is pleasant, most of the time barring the odd superstorm.  Being just a stone’s throw from New York has a lot going for it as well.  However, your dollar doesn’t go very far here.  New Jersey is a very nice place to live but it’s also a very expensive place to live.  When our income becomes “fixed” that will begin to play into the equation more and more.

Find out what's happening in Morris Township-Morris Plainswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It all makes me wonder which side of the hill New Jersey is on right now.  Are we climbing steadily upward to an open and expansive land of opportunities or plodding downward into to a much more expensive and divided NJ?  A New Jersey of a few people who are very comfortable and many more who are barely making it.

Rather than just complaining and worrying about the future, there are some things we can do to even things out in our home state.  The first is to raise the minimum wage and tie it to cost of living.  That will be on the ballot in November.  Although that measure will not raise the minimum enough to be a “Living wage” in NJ, it’s a decent start.  The second is on its way already, by lowering the costs of living.  Residents in NY and California are looking forward to their medical insurance premiums going down when the Health exchanges become available.  New Yorkers are looking at premiums that are in the neighborhood of 50% of what they are paying now.  The impact in NJ is likely to be much the same, which will bring a welcome relief to both our pocketbooks and our worries.  No one living in one of the most advanced countries in the world should go broke from medical expenses.

The question becomes what else can we do, or should be done?

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