Welcome To New Jersey

A Comparison To The Great State Of Maryland

An artists liberal interpretation

At this time last year I was on vacation in the state of Hawaii. I had a significant other, a job in Maryland, and my own apartment. I had no idea that (fast forward one year) I would eventually move to New Jersey and pretty much start from square one. (Okay, the job is the same, but that's about it).

First things first, both states are expensive. Though in Maryland I could afford to live on my own, New Jersey not so much. Luckily I found a nice roommate with a great apartment. This (oddly enough) lowered my rent. My insurance rates also went down (again odd as far as stereo types go). That doesn't mean I'm still not spending a lot of money. Food and other merchandize are also at a mark up.Thus say that New Jersey is the more expensive.

Point goes to Maryland.

Now as for going to the DMV, driving to work, and having the convenience of shopping centers pretty much everywhere, it depends on where in the state you are. Where I am in New Jersey there is a ton of shopping, plenty of (moderately priced) public transportation and I can walk all over the place. There are also a few DMV locations that are friendlier and faster than in Maryland.

Where I was in Maryland the public transportation was cheap (like dirt cheap, I think that's where all my taxes went to), but shopping centers weren't as frequent and I had to do a lot of driving in heavy DC-Baltimore traffic.

Oddly point goes to New Jersey.

 My commute is incredible here. There's no traffic (except for the odd school bus). I have a reverse commute that gets me to my office between 15 - 20 minutes. This is comparable to the distance I have to drive daily. Maryland, ha, no such luck. Traffic is cruel in Central Maryland. I typically just doubled the driving time anywhere out of sheer habit.

So with such a great commute, what do I have to complain about the New Jersey highway system? Well, New Jersey seems to like tolls. To the point that going anywhere out of the state equals paying a fee. Heck, most roads to the airport seem to include a fee.

I'm going to call this one a tie.

That brings our count to:

New Jersey 2
Maryland 2

Huh, that was supposed to be my tie breaker. I guess my overall opinion is that New Jersey and Maryland are pretty comparable. Or at least as far as I can tell.

But Virginia is still the best!

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