OK me too, I lived in N Jersey now I live in S Jersey. Both are good, S Jersey is definitely safer, less crowded, and far fewer bad cities like Camden. Camden is the only one down here and it's tiny. Compare that to Newark that spread out and ruined many large surrounding cities - East Orange, West Orange, South Orange, to name just a few.
Remember that there are more Republicans in North Jersey than South Jersey. Look at the red blue county map from 2004 to see my point.