I've lived in Jersey my whole life and love it. I honestly don't notice the taxes, except the property taxes, but places like Texas are about the same. I live in the northern half, the better half. You're in the middles of the best culture in the country. I'm 1 hour from Manhattan, 1.5 from Philly. We have the shore, mountains in the north, vast pine forest in the south, tons of farm land. We have some of the better schools in the country and a highly educated population and a high concentration of high paying professional jobs. I travel around the country and the only other place I could live would maybe be the mountain west (Denver, maybe SLC or Vegas). I love California but the cost of housing is out of control. Jersey is still surprisingly reasonable unless you want a big house in certain areas.