New Brunswick is a decent sized city with lots of nice parks and is close. Lots of students from Rutgers being located here but I haven't encountered as many young professionals though that's because I live by the university. I wouldn't necessarily live here if I worked in Somerville (Google Maps says it's typically 20-35 mins leaving at 8 AM), but it's much closer than NYC and has a lot of bars, music culture, interest clubs etc. so is worth checking out once you move here. Welcome