I haven't lived in the DC area, but I work in pharma and live in north/central NJ. I considered the DC area but at least in my field, there were many more positions in Jersey and I felt like that would give me more mobility to move between companies if necessary. The part of NJ with the most pharma is actually not the part closest to NYC-- I currently live in an NYC commuter area for my spouse, but I drive an hour south to get to work. We are going to be moving closer to work and will be saving a ton on housing. Most of the pharma sites are between Princeton and Morristown-ish. There are many lovely towns in that area that spans the border between north and central NJ, and there are a lot of options in terms of style of town, level of rural-ness, walkability etc. People at my career level (entryish level with PhD) are living in Piscataway, Edison, Somerville, Somerset, Morristown, Highland Park and the bosses are living in Belle Mead, Princeton and similar. I hope this is helpful!