Absolutely best New Jersey suburban community, within commuting distance of New York City.
 

I feel great, after much looking, I have landed that great high paying job in New York City. Though my wife insists that we live in a "green city" in New Jersey. She wants to be in the most beautiful town in New Jersey that is within 40 miles of mid town (NYC). She wants LOTS of trees, flowers, lawns and parks. Along with great demographics (lots of sharp educated people who value their community and schools)

Any ideas where I should start looking. I guess Newark is out!

Well Princeton is nice but it might not qualify since it is more like 50 miles away from midtown.

try Chatham, Madison, Glen Ridge, Mendham, Bernardsville

Summit, New Providence, Westfield, Cranford all southwest of New York and on good train lines.

Ridgewood, Kinnelon, west of New York and good commutes to New York.

If you are working in mid-town, you might find Westchester County NY or Conneticut (Darien, Greenwhich, Cos Cob, Rowayton, etc) a better tain commute, as you can go into Grand Central. Of course in Conneticut you will pay a lot less in property taxes, but a lot more for a house. It is kind of a toss up.

I grew up in Spring Lake, NJ... Great town (but very expensive). You can hop the train right in town. Many of my friend's parents worked in the city.

I can't say that the following are the most beautiful but they are among some of the nicest and they do meet your criteria. Ridgewood, Franklin Lakes, Demarest, Tenafly, and Cresskill. Lots of greenery, great schools, parks, and families. Ridgewood has a wonderful main street area with many terrific shops and restaurants. Great grocery shopping at The Market Basket in Franklin Lakes.

I grew up in Marlboro, which is a nice suburban town in Monmouth County. Other nice towns in that area are East Brunswick, Manalapan, Middletown.

Rumson. you can take the ferry to work.

andtrav:

As one that commutes to NYC from NJ I can say that Summit is a hub station which gets you to NYC in 1/2 hr. Very expensive town, many professionals. The towns that I love in my area are:
Watchung, Warren, Westfield, New Providence, Berkley Heights, Chatham, Madison, Morristown.

Now if you make it big you can move further out to Bernardsville, Oldwick, Far Hills, Green Village, Mountainville to name just a few!
JOHN

the commute is not great from Mendham, as you have to drive to Morristown to get the train, which takes about 15 minutes. Beautiful town though.

I'd live in the city in a heartbeat. There are some very beautiful green areas of Manhattan. Also, Brooklyn in the Brooklyn Heights area is also very nice.

I don't think you can compare the "green areas" in Manhattan with the lovely towns mentioned by some of the other respondents - with the possible exception of Central Park.

Bernardsville, Basking Ridge, Madison, Far Hills,,,,,she won't be dissapointed!!!! See link below, that is the Local paper online.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?b...;Nav_Sec=65208

A number of the towns mentioned are quite nice. I might also mention Short Hills and Randolph Township.

If you want a traditional leafy suburb on the train line to NYC, a place where you can walk everywhere: the library, restaurants, church, post office; etc.., where kids all walk safely to school, I would recommend Metuchen.

Second-runners up go to:
Morristown or Princeton

Summit is very nice. I don't think anyone mentioned Montclair.

Ridgewood, Allendale, wYCOFF, Harrington Park, Hillsdale, Montvale, Rivervale.... to name a few!

one more vote for Ridgewood, also Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Hillsdale -