I've lived in NYC for 15 years, and the only market that's relatively cheaper is Chinatown. However, it has a limited selection and it's only accessible if you live around it, i.e. in some of the most expensive areas of Manhattan. So yes, you could save a few dollars a month on baby bok choy, but you'd be living in a $3k a month studio apartment and paying a 20%-80% premium on everything else - electric, cable, non-chinese food, etc.

The only things that are cheaper in NYC are international flights (and only because you don't have to pay for connections) and immigrant labor (such as apartment cleaning). Other than that, to say that anything in NYC is cheaper than Maryland is just plain untrue.

And all this "willing to live in the right place in New Jersey" so you can have a 30 minute commute is propaganda. What it really means is, ghetto-living with an hour and a half commute, and that's only if you work 10 hour days because the commute around 9-to-5 is actually 2 hours. I've done it, and it's not worth it. (Unless of course, you are actually poor and simply have to).

Working 10 hour days and commuting 3 more is work+sleep, not living. Yes, you have your weekends, but when you are in NJ, let's face it, you miss out on all the spontaneous things that people do, which is the whole reason you've moved to NYC in the first place.