Atlantic City
Municipality · Atlantic County
1,022 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Atlantic City, reporting a median pensionable salary of $64,764.
Atlantic City, a municipality in Atlantic County, operates under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system rather than setting its own hiring rules independently.
Within Atlantic County, 16 local government entities in total carry this same confirmed status.
About municipalities in New Jersey
New Jersey has 564 municipalities, and each one decides for itself whether to operate under Title 11A. A municipality that adopts civil service hires and promotes employees through competitive exams administered by the state; one that hasn't sets its own local hiring rules instead.
Atlantic City Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 16 civil service jurisdictions in Atlantic County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Atlantic City
1,022 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Atlantic City. That is a count of active memberships reported by the employer, not a payroll headcount: anyone not enrolled in one of these funds does not appear in this data at all, and no separate headcount for a New Jersey local employer is published anywhere we can check against.
| Fund | Name | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| PERS | Public Employees' Retirement System | 537 | 53% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 485 | 47% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 294 police officers and 191 firefighters. PFRS enrolment is the only occupational detail this dataset carries; it lists no job titles, so nothing here says which civil service titles Atlantic City actually appoints.
5 of these members hold a second public job in New Jersey: their reported salary across all public employers exceeds what they are paid here. Shared and part-time appointments are common in local government, and the salary figures below count only the portion earned at Atlantic City.
Pensionable salary at Atlantic City
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Atlantic City reports a pensionable salary above $64,764 and half below, across 1,022 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $35,748 |
| 25th percentile | $45,347 |
| Median | $64,764 |
| 75th percentile | $115,010 |
| 90th percentile | $140,208 |
The range runs from the 10th to the 90th percentile because the extremes are not informative: the lowest reported figures belong to part-time and partial-year members, whose credited salary is a fraction of a full-time equivalent.
Among the 11 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 55th percentile, level with the county's midpoint of $64,764. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 22nd percentile.
These figures are pensionable salary reported to the NJ Division of Pensions and Benefits for the four most recent quarters, not total pay and not take-home pay. Snapshot of March 31, 2026. How we compile this.
How long people stay at Atlantic City
The median enrolled member at Atlantic City has 8.2 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 3.1 and 19.6 years. 23% have passed twenty years, which matters locally because retirement eligibility and the pension formula both turn on service credit.
| Credited service | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5 years | 406 | 40% |
| 5 to 10 years | 120 | 12% |
| 10 to 15 years | 107 | 10% |
| 15 to 20 years | 149 | 15% |
| 20 to 25 years | 114 | 11% |
| 25 years or more | 126 | 12% |
Membership tier records which pension rules a member was hired under, so the mix is a rough picture of how recently a workforce turned over. At Atlantic City, 34% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 351 | 34% |
| Tier 2 | 24 | 2% |
| Tier 3 | 296 | 29% |
| Tier 4 | 2 | 0% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 349 | 34% |
Other public employers in Atlantic City
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Atlantic City. Each is its own employer for pension purposes, and only some are civil service jurisdictions — school boards, charter schools and parking authorities are ordinary public employers that were never part of Title 11A. Names link only where the body appears in this directory.
| Employer | Enrolled members |
|---|---|
| ATLANTIC COUNTY | 1,221 |
| ATLANTIC CITY BD OF ED | 1,057 |
| ATLANTIC CITY (this page) | 1,022 |
| ATLANTIC CO UTIL AUTHORITY | 274 |
| ATLANTIC COUNTY WELFARE BD | 192 |
| ATLANTIC CITY HOUSING AUTHORIT | 67 |
| ATLANTIC CITY MUN UTIL AUTH | 62 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Atlantic City
In a municipality that operates under Title 11A, the mayor, administrator or governing body still decides which positions exist and who gets appointed to them. What changes is the route in. Most permanent positions have to be filled from a list of candidates who took and passed an open competitive examination.
That flips the usual job hunt around. For a competitive title you announce yourself by filing for the exam when it is posted, not by dropping a resume at the municipal building. Municipal employers also run the widest mix of titles in this directory: police and fire, public works and sanitation, code enforcement and construction inspection, tax collection, clerical support, recreation, and dispatch.
A permanent appointment starts with a working test period. You hold the title, you draw the salary, and you can still be released for unsatisfactory performance without the full removal process. Permanent status, and the job protection that comes with it, begins only once that period is completed satisfactorily.
Not every position at a civil service employer is competitive. The classified service is divided into competitive, noncompetitive and labor titles, and above that sits the unclassified service, which covers department heads, confidential aides and similar positions filled without an examination. Which division a title sits in decides how you get it, so read the specification before assuming there is an exam.
Civil service employers in Atlantic City
Atlantic City appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the city government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
Two other Atlantic City bodies hold civil service status separately from the city government, listed below. Each runs its own examinations and keeps its own eligible lists, so Atlantic City is really three employers rather than one.
- Atlantic City Library, public library
- Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority, municipal utilities authority
Civil service titles used by New Jersey municipalities
Real classifications that New Jersey municipalities draw on, each linked to its official specification: the definition of the work, the requirements, and any licence the title depends on. A sample of the system rather than a roster or a list of openings.
Civil service coverage across Atlantic County
Atlantic County holds 16 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 8 municipalities, 3 municipal departments, 2 public libraries, 2 municipal utilities authorities, and 1 county government.
8 of the county's 23 municipalities are among them.
Atlantic County is a jurisdiction too, though a county's decision does not bind the towns, authorities, libraries or districts inside it.
Also in the directory: Margate Library, Margate Public Safety, Margate Public Works, Margate Revenue and Finance, Pleasantville, Somers Point, Ventnor City, Atlantic City Library. See all 16 in Atlantic County.
Common questions about Atlantic City
Is Atlantic City a civil service employer?
Yes. Atlantic City appears in the New Jersey Civil Service Commission's listing of local civil service system jurisdictions as of July 2024, which makes it an appointing authority under Title 11A. Permanent appointments to competitive titles there come from eligible lists the Commission certifies, rather than from purely local hiring.
Does civil service status at Atlantic City cover the rest of Atlantic City?
No. Atlantic City has more than one employer in the listing, and each holds its own status, runs its own examinations and keeps its own eligible lists. Seniority and permanent status earned at one do not transfer automatically to another, even inside the same town.
Are there jobs here that never go through an examination?
Yes. Unclassified positions, which typically include department heads and confidential staff, are filled at the discretion of the appointing authority. Noncompetitive and labor titles inside the classified service are also filled without a competitive examination, though they still sit under civil service rules for things like layoff rights.
Do you have to live in New Jersey to work here?
Generally yes. The New Jersey First Act requires public employees hired after September 1, 2011 to live in the state, with a grace period for new hires to relocate and a narrow exemption process. Separately, individual examination announcements sometimes carry a local residency preference, which affects the order of the list rather than eligibility.
How many Atlantic City employees are in a State pension system?
1,022 active memberships are reported through Atlantic City, split across 537 in PERS and 485 in PFRS. This counts pension enrolment rather than payroll, so employees who are not in one of these funds are not included.
What is the median pensionable salary at Atlantic City?
$64,764, with the middle half of members between $45,347 and $115,010. These figures are pensionable salary reported to the NJ Division of Pensions and Benefits for the four most recent quarters, not total pay and not take-home pay. It excludes overtime and most supplemental pay, and it is before tax, before the member's own pension contribution and before health premiums.
How does pay at Atlantic City compare with the rest of Atlantic County?
Its median pensionable salary of $64,764 sits at the 55th percentile among the 11 civil service jurisdictions in Atlantic County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $64,764. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Atlantic City?
The median enrolled member has 8.2 years of credited service, and 23% have passed twenty years. Credited service drives both retirement eligibility and the pension formula, so a long-tenured workforce usually means fewer open competitive appointments in the near term.