New Jersey’s Hoboken beckons with brownstones, a boho vibe — and baseball

Living in New Jersey is not for everyone. Tell certain dyed-in-the-wool New Yorkers you live in Hoboken, and the response may be somewhere on the spectrum between distaste and disdain. The rivalry between the two states extends beyond their ice hockey teams, the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers.

However, for an increasing number of young professionals and families who want to be half an hour from Manhattan, the diminutive New Jersey “Mile Square City” of Hoboken represents an attractive option. 

Separated from New York City by the Hudson River, Hoboken’s predominantly low-rise neighbourhood, turn-of-the-century homes and quick transport links are attracting commuters in growing numbers. Adding to its charms are instantly recognisable (and Instagrammable) Manhattan skyline views: at sunset, the pink and gold reflections shining off the World Trade Center, Empire State Building and Hudson Yards draw crowds to Hoboken’s riverfront.

Hoboken’s population grew by nearly 48 per cent between 2000 and 2023, from 38,577 to an estimated 57,010 according to US census data. The borough of Brooklyn grew less than 4 per cent in the same period. The average age skews younger than the US as a whole. 

Most newcomers hail from New York City or Brooklyn, says Carole Hu, an estate agent with Douglas Elliman; others are downsizers from more distant suburbs seeking the live-work-play lifestyle closer to Manhattan. She also sees parents buying for newly-graduated children working in New York. 

Fresh properties on the market are snapped up quickly; homes in Hoboken receive two offers on average and sell in around 30 days, according to real estate company Redfin. Agents bemoan the lack of inventory. Local estate agent Elizabeth Rakela says, “Hoboken remains a very tight market with low inventory and high prices; desirable properties continue to move very quickly.”

The young, vibrant demographic is welcomed by local business owners. Dale Mori-Ryan is co-founder of local coffee shop Bwè Kafe, which is on the main drag, Washington Street, alongside brands such as SoulCycle, Sephora, Nike and Lululemon, as well as multigenerational Italian delis and artisanal bakeries, including the famous Carlo’s Bake Shop. 

“Hoboken has the best qualities of city life mixed with a hometown vibe,” says Mori-Ryan, who grew up in Hoboken and lived around the world before returning with her partner to have children and launch the business. “You have diverse dining options, block parties, community events and fairs, we’re able to easily walk to any park and nearly guaranteed to run into friends. I’ve lived many versions of myself here, but being a parent of young kids is my favourite season of life in Hoboken.”

One of the draws is that it’s a less expensive place to raise children than New York. Some counties in New Jersey, including Hudson County, which covers Hoboken, offer free, full-day pre-Kindergarten for three-and-four-year-old children (an unusual benefit in most states). Hoboken has a good educational offering too, with five free public schools and a number of private schools including All Saints Episcopal Day School, The Hudson School and Stevens Cooperative School. 

There are also three charter schools, which are free, with places obtained by lottery. They receive government funding but have a degree of autonomy — and the potential for smaller class sizes. This year, applications far exceeded places: Elysian Charter School had a 23 per cent jump in year on year for 2024-25, with a waiting list of nearly 700 students, while HoLa, the Spanish-English charter school, had a 28 per cent increase, with a waiting list topping 800. 

When school’s out, the town becomes a play- and sports ground. Hoboken is where baseball was invented — or, at least where the first game played by modern rules was recorded — and the Hoboken Little League baseball pitch, with its Manhattan views, is used almost constantly in season. The soccer fields at Sinatra Drive and 1600 Park Avenue are busy late into the night. 

With an estimated 70 per cent of adults living here making the NYC commute each day, according to Hu, Hoboken has — along with Jersey City — been nicknamed New York’s sixth borough. Lower Manhattan’s Financial District, Mid Town and the West Village are reachable in half an hour or less on the underground PATH train, with additional links via bus and ferry. 

For many residents, it has the edge on the real five boroughs. “It’s got a kind of West Village vibe with brownstones, all very walkable, safe and cleaner than anywhere else in New York,” says Hu, who sells property on both sides of the river. Property is less expensive in Hoboken. According to Corcoran, the average price per square foot in Brooklyn was $1,110 in the third quarter of 2024, in Manhattan it was $1,734 while in Hoboken it was about $880. 

The median sale price in Hoboken has risen 16 per cent in the past five years from $715,000 to $828,000, according to Redfin. In the same period, the median sale price in Manhattan edged up 3 per cent, from $1.067mn to $1.1mn. In September, Brown Harris Stevens closed a deal on of the highest priced brownstones to sell in Hoboken so far this year, at $3.8mn. 

Alongside these price rises, housing costs have increased, and the average property tax in Hoboken is higher than that of Brooklyn or Manhattan. (New Jersey’s average property tax rate is the highest of any state in the US.) On the other hand: New Jersey’s state income tax ranges between 1.4 per cent and 10.75 per cent compared with a range of 4 per cent to 10.9 per cent in New York, and most food and clothing is exempt from state sales tax.

As for rental prices, according to Hu, tenants should expect to pay an average of $4,000 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. Streets east of Willow Street are particularly desirable, and prices rise in mid-uptown. “I see stronger competition in Hoboken than Manhattan and Brooklyn since there is less inventory and high demand here. Renters have to make multiple offers,” she says. 

But climate change has brought unwelcome news for homeowners: three-quarters of Hoboken properties are at risk of flooding now, according to First Street, a climate risk modelling service. Within 30 years’ time this is predicted to rise to 83 per cent. 

Rebecca Prasad, an acupuncturist who grew up in upstate New York, lived in Manhattan for four years before moving to a rented brownstone in Hoboken in 2008, when she was pregnant with her first child and in search of more space. Sixteen years later, she has four children and lives in another brownstone she bought on Bloomfield Street. “Hoboken is a place that becomes very hard to leave, you are part of a tight-knit, compassionate community, and then your children make these deep friendships too,” she says. 

It wasn’t always so wholesome. For much of the 20th century, Hoboken was gritty — mobster links were strong — and industrial, with a landscape characterised by warehouses. Growing up here in the early 1990s, Mori-Ryan remembers crime being “much more rampant”, with their family car frequently broken into (the local violent crime rate is now just 1.53 per 1,000 residents, compared with 6.86 in Brooklyn and 8.18 in Manhattan, according to Neighbourhood Scout data).

It’s got a kind of West Village vibe with brownstones, all very walkable, safe and cleaner than anywhere else in New York

But during Mori-Ryan’s childhood, Hoboken was also a place for artists who couldn’t afford New York. As the town’s hipster reputation grew and developers adapted older buildings into luxury homes, those artists had to relocate or change career, says Mori-Ryan. Her parents were artists before they moved into real estate. Many of the old industrial sites have been converted to high-end condos with river views, such Maxwell Coffee (now Maxwell Place), Wonder Bread (now Wonder Lofts) and the Lipton Tea building (now Hudson Tea condominiums). 

“Hoboken has always had a rich and diverse culture, but over the past two decades, I’ve seen it grow even more vibrant,” says Mayor Ravi Bhalla. His signature implementation has been road safety measures, of which he is “particularly proud”. After adding bike lanes, redesigning streets and prioritising pedestrians, Hoboken has gone seven years without a traffic-related death. “Our city has evolved to a dynamic blend of longtime residents, young professionals and families. But what’s remained constant is our sense of community.”

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