New Jersey Suburban Discount Dwindles

The new Jersey discount to New York and Philadelphia. It's gone with the cost of living in the suburbs now starting to outpace that nationwide. Yeah, absolutely. Paulina Castro reported on this story, and she joins us now. And, Paulina, what's happening? New Jersey, where costs are rising so much faster than even New York City. Yeah. So I think like from 2020, since 2021, uh, during the pandemic, we saw housing costs increase, right? People could suddenly work from anywhere. They wanted to move to the suburbs, have a little bit more space under Covid 19 lockdowns. And we saw housing prices just expand. Then obviously everyone came back. Um, bosses were calling workers back to the office and everyone started moving, you know, closer along the Hudson River so they could commute back into the city. And, you know, since then, um, overall inflation has risen. New York City has gotten a lot more expensive, and people that might not have moved to the suburbs started to, um, in large part. And now, uh, childcare costs are what's driving up, um, the cost of raising a family in new Jersey. Um, it used to be housing was cheaper in the suburbs, and you got more bang for your buck there. But now that's starting to equalize a little bit, too. Yeah, especially with interest rates where they're at. If you could probably find a rental that's comparable to the cost of your mortgage in new Jersey. And you might be getting more space, but the cost you might be saving, you're spending on commuting back into the city and in the higher costs of childcare as well. This chart, which looks complicated, but all you need to know is that the new Jersey suburbs are seeing much faster growth in prices than other places. I mean, most of that is new Jersey, Monmouth County, Hudson County, Passaic County. You don't go there. I can't see it. But you've been in Manhattan die hard this whole time. I've been in Manhattan. I heard the whole time. But I have the luxury. I think this is hugely emotional nationwide. I'm going to go to your time at the University of South, uh, Southern California. And the basic idea of. Is L.A. any different? I don't think so. I think this is nationwide. Yeah, I think we're definitely seeing it on a national level. I think families always kind of move to the exurbs or the suburbs to get more space and save a little bit, but because there are so many people doing that, it's not cheaper. The bargain was public schools. Are you saying in your reporting that the public school bargain is broken? I don't know if it's the public school bargain, but, you know, in major cities like New York City, we are expanding our universal childcare program. That really helps with those early costs of child care. And actually, child care in New York City is about like $5,000 cheaper than it is in new Jersey. This is something I'm blind on. I am blind to the immense challenge today in personal finance of child care. It's been a long. I had a gift. It was way cheaper. Yeah, but when? When I was doing it. Well, it's been a long, long time. And not to mention, um, the immigration crackdown means that the options for child care have gone down, have slimmed down considerably, too. Yeah, that's a huge thing. What else are you working on besides, I mean, this is a huge theme you've got going here. What's the next story? Get out in front of it. Uh, the next story. I mean, I think it's just thinking about like, where do people go if they want to raise a family? It seems like there's not really anywhere to hide. Yeah, there's no. And I don't mean to interrupt because we've got to move on. But this is critical because I've seen two, three, four articles this week. Um, on the staggering decline in birth rate in children. Um, I mean, it's we're becoming like Italy. People have pets rather than kids. Yeah, pets are cheaper. We make light of that. It's a joke. We come on from a societal standpoint. Yeah, it's interesting because, uh, from the parents that I talk to, a lot of, you know, people wanted to have like 1 or 2 kids, but because they're not able to afford having kids until later in their life, and then they're just trying to get their kid gets all to show it gets pushed out.