Union City is Ok. Weehawken is $$$. Jersey City has a lot of construction going on. Hoboken is $$$ & crowded. West New York is like Union City.

You might also consider Edgewater, Ft. Lee & Englewood for a commute over the bridge.

Well, don't feel bad if it's difficult to find something in Tenafly or Demarest. Because of the schools there, prices stay high & homes move fast.

But the schools are great all the way up to the NYS border. Look up towns in Northern Bergen County (ie, Cresskill, Haworth, Harrington Park, Northvale, Norwood, Wyckoff, Ridgewood, Emerson, Park Ridge, River Vale, Westwood, Hillsdale). They're all very commutable. Some towns have commuter trains & they all have buses if you don't want to drive (but most people commuting in-state do drive.)

Good luck.

A good deal of property taxes goes to the public education system. In other places, other states, people who buy a $650K home send kids to private schools.

You can live in Northern Bergen County for that budget. Great properties, Excellent schools, Bucolic neighborhoods. You likely won't get a mansion for that but a decent home.

Happy hunting!

PS, Tenafly has one of the highest rated public school systems in the State. Also, Demarest. Prices are high there but they are softening somewhat.

Most of the towns in NJ have good school systems. Some are better than others. You can look on Niche to see how they rate the towns to get an idea.

There are a lot of people in Northern NJ who work in the same biotech/pharma industry.

Affordable is another question altogether. A lot depends upon what you've got to spend. You can find decent homes in the high $500ks in to the millions. What's your budget?

Englewood/Tenafly/Cresskill (and other Bergen County towns) come to mind but, again, it depends upon what you want to spend.

American Dream Mall - though I hate malls & wouldn't generally recommend a mall!

Newark Museum.