Arlington (Kearny)

I have lived most of my life in Kearny, NJ. Kearny has a great location. You can see Midtown Manhattan from the higher points in town. You are a 15 minute drive from NJ (if there’s no traffic, one hour if there is – avoid commuter times). The PATH train in Harrison will take you anywhere you want to go in NY. There are also a lot of NJ Transit Bus and Train options to get you around. Kearny is located 15 minutes from Newark International Airport. The public school system is great here. The apartments in Kearny are exponentially less expensive than other towns nearby. And even though there is a lower rent, you still have the proximity to NY, a lot of conveniences (stores, delis and shopping all within walking distance) and the apartments you rent are larger than what you would get in other towns. The food in Kearny is good and varied. You can get great Italian food, Chinese food, Sub Sandwiches, there’s a Fish and Chips shop called “The Argyle” and a lot of Spanish, Cuban and South American restaurants have popped up in town as well. There are a lot of parks in Kearny and it is generally pretty safe. It is a live and let live kind of town but don’t forget to lock your doors as a measure of precaution, less against violence and more against petty theft (which I have never experienced but other people have). Kearny is bordered by Newark and Jersey City so we were raised to lock doors behind us with the though “it’s better to be safe than sorry”. shrug In short, I recommend Kearny if you’re new to the area. Live there, safe your money, move somewhere better later on. You’ll be safe and it’s a lot more quiet than NY. Trees, parks, convenience and safety, it just isn’t “hip” (yet).

Kearny is an old manufacturing town, as you can still see in most of South Kearny, and I’m pretty sure the neighborhoods towards the Passaic River grew during that time, with the more modest houses closer to Kearny Marsh, and the larger places of the bosses and such closer to the river.

If you want to get an idea of what Kearny is like, watch the Sopranos. They filmed here a lot. I mean, that’s what it looks like. As far as i know they don’t have mafia-type stuff going on like that today. It seems more like a nice, family-oriented place.

Across the Hackensack River from Jersey City, the Arlington/Kearny area offers a newer, more ordered feel. There are nice small parks here, and everything is separated out into exclusive zones (residential, educational, business, etc.), which goes a long way to alleviate the chaos that can arise in parts of JC, where it sometimes feel like everything is randomly thrown together. I think for this reason it tends to attract more established people who don’t have as much need for a crazy nightlife, bars, and that sort of thing.