New Jersey is fine. A lot of north jersey is overshadowed by NYC being right there. One of my friends moved here from florida, and one of her friends was like "Why don't you move to jersey city? it's cheaper" and she went "I didn't move to new york to live in new jersey". But even if you do live just outside the city and none of your friends want to visit, you're still a short train ride away from it.

I don't know as much about south jersey, but, like, it's fine. And unlike, I don't know, Iowa, you can usually get on a train to a world class city.