Why does NJ have a blue collar image and CT have a wealthy image?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NJ and CT are more similar than different. Both have blighted cities and affluent suburbs. Both have one Ivy League university. Italian is the most common ancestry in both states. Incomes, educational attainment about the same.

+1

As anyone with experience with both would know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NJ and CT are more similar than different. Both have blighted cities and affluent suburbs. Both have one Ivy League university. Italian is the most common ancestry in both states. Incomes, educational attainment about the same.

+1

As anyone with experience with both would know.

I grew up in Ct and went to Greenwich High School, attended the local Catholic Church. It was definitely not mostly Italian, but a mix of Italian & Irish (especially us Catholics) and then wasps, hispanics and AA families.
And I had friends in NJ who were more Armenian / Ukranian etc - so similar but with a bit more variety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big gap between perceptions and reality. Connecticut in particular is not true to its reputation, in my experience. When I was growing up, I thought CT would be so fancy (who’s the Boss!), but when I finally spent some time there in my college years/20s, it was solid middle class. Housing is super affordable too.

What part of CT were you in ? Fairfield county is not super affordable, lol

Neither is Westport however move west of 95 and yep hello blue collar and cheaper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NJ and CT are more similar than different. Both have blighted cities and affluent suburbs. Both have one Ivy League university. Italian is the most common ancestry in both states. Incomes, educational attainment about the same.

+1

As anyone with experience with both would know.

I grew up in Ct and went to Greenwich High School, attended the local Catholic Church. It was definitely not mostly Italian, but a mix of Italian & Irish (especially us Catholics) and then wasps, hispanics and AA families.
And I had friends in NJ who were more Armenian / Ukranian etc - so similar but with a bit more variety.

NP - yeah, I mean, Connecticut is 80% white to 65% in New Jersey. That right there is a big difference. NJ doesn’t have the super WASP-y reputation in any of it, maybe with the exception of Princeton. They’re more similar than different, but the differences end up being definitive for people who don’t know any better.

It’s sort of like Maryland vs. Virginia - people think of Virginia as Southern while Maryland isn’t, even though they both are, technically, and both have much more in common than they do different. And you still have people who are very loyal to one vs. the other, as you do with CT vs. NJ.

[Anonymous]

NJ is more diverse. It has a very large Asian population, especially Indians.

[Anonymous]

Well all my Sicilian relatives moved to New Jersey for labor work in the first part of the 20th century. I think the CT Italians tended more towards skilled labor from napoli (new haven) and also not as much of it. The new Haven ports were also basically kaput by the early 20th century due to the shallow water not accommodating modern boats, whereas New Jersey continued to have a significant longshoreman/dock worker contingent into the 20th century. I think CT also had more of the old Yankee families and prep schools—-New Jersey just didn’t have all of the from the 19th and 18th century. It lacked the puritan pedigree that New England had in that time period, and which continued to attract the genteel money types for at least some period after. I don’t know how places like Greenwich will fare going forward—I think the rich prefer to stay in the cities now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because NJ is made money and CT is old money. For the most part, and I do agree there's plenty of rough places in CT with blue collar workers.

That's not really true. There is plenty of new money in CT and plenty of old money in NJ

Totally this although the old money in both is pretty well hidden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well all my Sicilian relatives moved to New Jersey for labor work in the first part of the 20th century. I think the CT Italians tended more towards skilled labor from napoli (new haven) and also not as much of it. The new Haven ports were also basically kaput by the early 20th century due to the shallow water not accommodating modern boats, whereas New Jersey continued to have a significant longshoreman/dock worker contingent into the 20th century. I think CT also had more of the old Yankee families and prep schools—-New Jersey just didn’t have all of the from the 19th and 18th century. It lacked the puritan pedigree that New England had in that time period, and which continued to attract the genteel money types for at least some period after. I don’t know how places like Greenwich will fare going forward—I think the rich prefer to stay in the cities now.

this is it.

[Anonymous]

First stop from NY to NJ is Newark; first stop from NY to CT is Greenwich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:most outsiders are only familiar with Fairfield County CT

Home to Bridgeport

And Stamford and Norwalk…but also Greenwich, Darien, and Westport.

[Anonymous]

The Sopranos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The blue collar parts of NJ are closer to NYC so there is more interaction - in the city, your plumber or carpenter may be coming in from NJ but less likely so from CT.
Since a lot of pop culture originates from NYC, this perception has been amplified.

Then there's the Boss...who, by the way, has never held a blue collar job.

Lots of people come into NYC from CT, but I think they tend to be in white-collar professions.

My guess is media, though. Bruce Springsteen, for sure, but the NJ blue collar stereotype gets used all the time. And people outside of the area aren't familiar with either state, really, but they've likely heard of Greenwich as being very wealthy.

With Connecticut, you have people like Katharine Hepburn, who was the ultimate blueblood. Also, Martha Stewart's farmhouse was in Connecticut.

Paul Newman also CT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both states have very similar levels of income and demographics. Yet New Jersey has a more "blue collar" image and Connecticut has a more "patrician" image. Why is that?

Because NJ is (mostly, not all - some rich/old money pockets) made up of blue collar people who have gotten money. And Connecticut is made up of old money people who have gotten poorer. That's why.

[Anonymous]

Parts of Connecticut are waspy and rich. Greenwich, Westport, and all those towns pretty close to NYC. Also a lot of famous writers and stars have homes or estates in the Litchfield Hills or in New Canaan, or Darien.

Then there’s the CT valley, where my Italian parents grew up. Waterbury, Derby, Ansonia, Bridgeport, etc. Mostly blue collar. Most people don’t leave the state, or the furthest they’ve lived away is another nearby state like Massachusetts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NJ and CT are more similar than different. Both have blighted cities and affluent suburbs. Both have one Ivy League university. Italian is the most common ancestry in both states. Incomes, educational attainment about the same.

Yes to all of this! I grew up in NJ and went to school in CT and never understood the different stereotypes about the two!