# Housing Allowance for NJ/NYC



## Danwhytehome (Aug 16, 2012)

Good Afternoon,
There is a possibility that I will be offered a move from Uk to NJ in the next couple of weeks. I've started researching the usual expat things, cost of living etc and have a couple of outstanding questions. 

My company will pay my salary and deal with the taxes through a 3rd party consultant so I just get given my UK salary in net$ and they sort the tax bill. They will also pay me a housing and transport allowance net of tax so I'm trying to get a feeling for what kind of level in $ or £ these allowances may be. I appreciate that there will be a range but would like to know, if people are willing to share, what % of there salary their housing and transport bonuses work out to be?

I am newly married with no kids and we plan to keep our house in the UK and rent in Hoboken in as nicer place as possible but with rent ranging from $1-6k for an apartment it's difficult to gauge what we should be looking at. If it helps I guesstimate that I would be earning $65k+ basic with moving, settling, returning extras of $18k.

I've trawled the forum but any extra info on Hoboken or alternatives for (I hate to say this) "trendy loft/city living" much appreciated. The job will be based in Linden NJ and we are hoping my wife will find a job once we are out there.

Cheers


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## No1Dad (Sep 30, 2012)

For starters, good luck and congrats on your move. My first question is: have you ever been to NJ before? Have you taken a taxi from, say, Newark Intl to Manhattan?

Hoboken is great and I can understand the appeal of wanting to live there. In reality thouh you'll be paying extra for the name "Hoboken", just as you would for an Armani shirt or a pair of shoes. You can just as easily find a bigger and cheaper place a few miles up the road in Weehawken. Both great views of NYC but the Weehawken PATH (train) dumps you off in Hell's Kitchen (ignore the name, very safe part of town) whereas the Hoboken PATH dumps you in the Meatpacking District (yes this is where all the trendy nightspots are) near Greenwich Village. Also, you can jog in Weehawken with a city skyline just the same as u can in Hoboken. 

2-3k USD/mo is not an unreasonable for a 1 bedroom loft in Weehawken with views, and less if you can do without the view. If your main priority is easy access to NYC on weekends or evenings you can't go wrong. Just don't limit yourself to Hoboken when you can exactly the same for less in Weehawken.


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