Cape May County
County Government · Cape May County
728 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Cape May County, reporting a median pensionable salary of $54,000.
Cape May County is a confirmed New Jersey civil service jurisdiction — a county government in Cape May County that has adopted Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes to govern how it hires, classifies, and promotes employees.
Cape May County has 22 confirmed civil service jurisdictions in total, including this one.
About county governments in New Jersey
New Jersey's 21 counties run services that cross municipal lines: courts, county roads, parks, corrections, and often social services. A county's civil service status covers its own direct employees; the municipalities inside it each make their own separate decision about whether to join the system.
See all 22 civil service jurisdictions in Cape May County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Cape May County
728 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Cape May County. 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 | 587 | 81% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 141 | 19% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 141 police officers. PFRS enrolment is the only occupational detail this dataset carries; it lists no job titles, so nothing here says which civil service titles Cape May County actually appoints.
11 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 Cape May County.
Pensionable salary at Cape May County
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Cape May County reports a pensionable salary above $54,000 and half below, across 728 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $38,647 |
| 25th percentile | $43,979 |
| Median | $54,000 |
| 75th percentile | $72,018 |
| 90th percentile | $99,327 |
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 16 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 31st percentile, below the county's midpoint of $60,305. Against the 20 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 15th 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 Cape May County
The median enrolled member at Cape May County has 10.7 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 4.2 and 19.9 years. 25% 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 | 201 | 28% |
| 5 to 10 years | 141 | 19% |
| 10 to 15 years | 110 | 15% |
| 15 to 20 years | 95 | 13% |
| 20 to 25 years | 100 | 14% |
| 25 years or more | 81 | 11% |
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 Cape May County, 50% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 242 | 33% |
| Tier 2 | 23 | 3% |
| Tier 3 | 93 | 13% |
| Tier 4 | 4 | 1% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 366 | 50% |
Other public employers in Cape May County
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Cape May County. 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 |
|---|---|
| CAPE MAY COUNTY (this page) | 728 |
| CAPE MAY COUNTY MUN UTIL AUTH | 149 |
| CAPE MAY CITY | 136 |
| CAPE MAY CO BD SOCIAL SERVICES | 83 |
| CAPE MAY CITY BD OF ED | 36 |
| CAPE MAY CITY HOUSING AUTHORIT | 3 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Cape May County
A county government is among the largest employers in this directory, and its civil service status reaches across the county jail, the road and bridge crews, the parks system, the clerk and surrogate offices, and in most counties a share of health and human services staff.
Several county titles have no municipal equivalent at all. County correctional police officer is the clearest case: its own entry examination, its own academy requirement, and its own closed promotional ladder up through sergeant, lieutenant and captain. A county's status also stops at its own payroll, which is why a county can operate under Title 11A while most towns inside it do not.
Permanent employees carry layoff rights. In a layoff, rights are determined by permanent status and seniority within the affected unit, displacement into another title can be available, and laid-off employees go onto a special reemployment list that takes priority when the title is filled again. None of that applies to provisional or temporary service.
Your title, not your assignment, defines what you are supposed to be doing. If the duties you actually perform drift outside the specification for the title you hold, that is a classification question rather than a management preference, and an employee can ask for the position to be reviewed and reclassified. It is one of the quieter protections in the system and one of the least used.
Countywide civil service employers in Cape May County
Cape May County is the county government itself, so its civil service status covers county employees rather than anyone working for a town inside the county. Municipalities, libraries, authorities and districts each decide separately, and most of the county's towns are not in the listing at all.
One other countywide body in Cape May County is in the listing as well. They are separate employers with separate hiring, and a candidate list certified to one is not certified to another.
- Cape May County Library, public library
Civil service titles used by New Jersey county governments
Real classifications that New Jersey county governments 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 Cape May County
Cape May County holds 22 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 11 municipalities, 3 municipal departments, 2 housing authorities, 2 public libraries, 1 county government, 1 fire district, 1 school district, and 1 municipal utilities authority.
11 of the county's 16 municipalities are among them.
Also in the directory: Dennis Township, Lower Township, Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority, Middle Township, Middle Township Fire Districts (4), Middle Township School District, North Wildwood City, Ocean City. See all 22 in Cape May County.
Common questions about Cape May County
Is Cape May County a civil service employer?
Yes. Cape May County 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 the Civil Service Commission decide who gets hired?
No. The Commission runs the examination, ranks the candidates and certifies the list. The employer is the appointing authority: it decides whether to fill the position at all and which of the reachable candidates to appoint. That division is why a high score improves your odds without guaranteeing anything.
How do you find out when an examination is announced?
Announcements are published by the Civil Service Commission on their own schedule, each with a filing window that closes on a fixed date. Local employers do not always advertise separately, so watching the announcements directly is more reliable than watching a municipal website. Filing late is not curable, which makes the calendar the single most important part of the process.
How many Cape May County employees are in a State pension system?
728 active memberships are reported through Cape May County, split across 587 in PERS and 141 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 Cape May County?
$54,000, with the middle half of members between $43,979 and $72,018. 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 Cape May County compare with the rest of Cape May County?
Its median pensionable salary of $54,000 sits at the 31st percentile among the 16 civil service jurisdictions in Cape May County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $60,305. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Cape May County?
The median enrolled member has 10.7 years of credited service, and 25% 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.