NJ actually is a great place, and it’s much more than NYC urban sprawl.
The south and central are often very charming. I found many outdoor table restaurants in Various towns in the ‘90s where I’d not seen them really before. Great RevWar history which brought me there as well as work at the time (occasional trips to contractors there).
I also have a soft spot for it as the birthplace of my beloved wonder dog, decades ago, in the same town as Lindbergh lived.
Worst about NJ? Jug-handle turns. Hands down.
The worst thing
Been here a quarter of a century, and I couldn't agree more with that statement.
Sure, proximity of NY and PA are great, as are the diners. At the same time, you have a better chance of finding Bigfoot that you do of finding a legal concealed carry permit. But you can buy all sorts of firearms and hollowpoints (though storage and transportation is tricky...and yes I get that in a just State this should NOT be tricky).
But for all that everyone says about the importance of family and children, and the horrible state of education in America, in red states you can concealed carry permits (or have Constitutional carry) but you MUST get bureaucrat approval of books and maybe even have the school TEST you child if you decide to HS. However...in that "horrible" state of NJ you don't have to get ANY approval or have anyone test your child. Thaaats right.,,in that horrid State of NJ you can effectively flip the bird to the government and in-source the education of your child, and teach them that rights come from God and not the government. What's more patriotic than that?
Now, I get that some freedoms and liberties rank ahead of others for many people...the right to KABA is pretty fundamental to many of us. So is economic freedom. But if good Deplorables are HSing their children in NJ while making a good living for their family working in NYC or Philadelphia, while they have lots of shotguns and pistols in their gun safe in Bergen County, that doesn't make them RINOs. In fact, on some level, Homeschoolers in NJ may be considered more conservative than red staters who send their kids to public school.