Regarding your post, I must say respectfully, you are full of shit.
I live in one of the "nice" areas of the state and I too have seen and lived in other parts of the United States (I have been to Europe but never lived there). NJ is corrupt, and the cost of living and taxes are crazy. For what I spend in taxes, and what I receive in municipal services, I am overpaying by 70% - lazy workers and corrupt officials.
NJ is a miserable place and it does not have any redeeming qualities that I can think of. The shore is a joke, the people are as angry as I have seen (I would be too if I knew I were spending the rest of my life here) and without NYC, NJ would be a wasteland.
NJ is nothing more than a convenient location near NYC and somehow, it is to the Pharma industry what Detroit is to cars. I would bet if you gave all the residents the option to earn a living somewhere else, 60% would leave. And the 40% that remain will be the block heads with greasy hair, tight t-shirts working on construction sights.
While I respect your opinion, I strongly disagree with it.
I grew up in New Jersey. I have since lived in California, New York, Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, London, Paris and Munich. I have traveled through most of the United States and Europe, and parts of Asia. All of which is to say that I've seen some of the world.
New Jersey may not be the best place--think the Turnpike along exits 13 and 14 especially--but it does have some redeeming qualities. I never thought the beaches were all that great, but you can find some nice ones where the natives aren't 20 and partying all night. Some of the parks are amazing--Washington Crossing, for one. May be not Big Sur amazing, but certainly better than most.
Some of my good friends are, as you might expect, from New Jersey. They are friendly, outgoing people, do not have hair that is 10 feet tall, nor do they call Jersey "Joisey" and make obscene gestures and wax on about their high IQs and test scores.
In short, if work ever called me back to New Jersey, I'd go and be more than capable of making a nice life for my family and me--good running trails, some real scenic beauty, good schools, good restaurants if you know where to find them, and proximity to NYC.
I wholeheartedly disagree with your assertion that there is no worthwhile quality of life to be found in New Jersey. You are either very young, or looking in the wrong places, or not looking hard enough, or have a much different concept of what quality of life is than I do.
You can spout all the stereotypes you want about Jersey, and about how it so bad, and about this and that, but none of that gives an accurate picture of the state. Like most things, reality is usually a little more complicated, a little more nuanced, than stereotypes would suggest.