Same here, I live on the Jersey City waterfront and love the ferry commute. Hoboken and Jersey City are excellent places to live for a Manhattan job. We get to take advantage of the market inefficiency created by the "eww Jersey" popular image. Bonus, we dodge the NYC income tax which runs over 3% of income.
Fun fact: the NY state + NY city income taxes pretty much equal the entire California state income tax rate. It's not a huge loss given comparable living options.
I live in the NJ Path area as well (JC/Hoboken) ... but I personally do NOT think that this area is inexpensive ... definitely less expensive than Manhattan, and less taxes ... but you can find some awesome apartments in Queens/Brooklyn that would cost a fortune in JC/Hoboken.
