Fair Lawn
Municipality · Bergen County
180 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Fair Lawn, reporting a median pensionable salary of $102,458.
As a municipality in Bergen County, Fair Lawn falls under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system, which governs competitive hiring, classification, and promotion for its employees.
It is one of 50 confirmed civil service jurisdictions in Bergen County.
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.
Fair Lawn Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 50 civil service jurisdictions in Bergen County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Fair Lawn
180 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Fair Lawn. 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 | 122 | 68% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 58 | 32% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 58 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 Fair Lawn actually appoints.
6 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 Fair Lawn.
Pensionable salary at Fair Lawn
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Fair Lawn reports a pensionable salary above $102,458 and half below, across 180 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $55,768 |
| 25th percentile | $79,931 |
| Median | $102,458 |
| 75th percentile | $150,666 |
| 90th percentile | $172,922 |
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 25 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 100th percentile, above the county's midpoint of $80,210. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 98th 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 Fair Lawn
The median enrolled member at Fair Lawn has 19.9 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 10.3 and 26.2 years. 50% 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 | 24 | 13% |
| 5 to 10 years | 19 | 11% |
| 10 to 15 years | 21 | 12% |
| 15 to 20 years | 26 | 14% |
| 20 to 25 years | 40 | 22% |
| 25 years or more | 50 | 28% |
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 Fair Lawn, 27% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 105 | 58% |
| Tier 2 | 7 | 4% |
| Tier 3 | 19 | 11% |
| Tier 4 | 1 | 1% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 48 | 27% |
Other public employers in Fair Lawn Borough
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Fair Lawn Borough. 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 |
|---|---|
| FAIR LAWN BD OF ED | 726 |
| FAIR LAWN BOROUGH (this page) | 180 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Fair Lawn
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.
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.
Civil service employers in Fair Lawn Borough
Fair Lawn Borough appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the borough government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
One other Fair Lawn Borough body is listed separately: Fair Lawn Library, a public library. It is a distinct employer with its own hiring, so a job there is not a job with the borough, and permanent status earned at one does not carry to the other.
- Fair Lawn Library, public library
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 Bergen County
Bergen County holds 50 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 21 municipalities, 20 public libraries, 4 boards of health, 1 board of social services, 1 county government, 1 housing authority, 1 school district, and 1 municipal utilities authority.
21 of the county's 70 municipalities are among them.
Bergen 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: Elmwood Park Borough, Elmwood Park Library, Fair Lawn Library, Fairview, Fairview Library, Fort Lee, Fort Lee Library, Garfield. See all 50 in Bergen County.
Common questions about Fair Lawn
Is Fair Lawn a civil service employer?
Yes. Fair Lawn 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 Fair Lawn cover the rest of Fair Lawn Borough?
No. Fair Lawn Borough 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.
How long does it take to get hired through this process?
Longer than an ordinary job application, and the timing is not in the hands of the employer. An announcement has to close, the examination has to be held and scored, the eligible list has to be promulgated, and only then can the employer request a certification. Several months between filing and an appointment is normal rather than a sign that something has gone wrong.
Is there always a written test?
No. New Jersey runs both assembled examinations, where candidates are scheduled to sit a test, and unassembled ones, where a reviewer scores your education and experience against the requirements in the specification and there is no test day at all. The announcement says which kind it is. For an unassembled examination the application itself is the examination, so how fully you describe your experience is the score.
How many Fair Lawn employees are in a State pension system?
180 active memberships are reported through Fair Lawn, split across 122 in PERS and 58 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 Fair Lawn?
$102,458, with the middle half of members between $79,931 and $150,666. 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 Fair Lawn compare with the rest of Bergen County?
Its median pensionable salary of $102,458 sits at the 100th percentile among the 25 civil service jurisdictions in Bergen County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $80,210. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Fair Lawn?
The median enrolled member has 19.9 years of credited service, and 50% 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.