Freehold Township
Municipality · Monmouth County
202 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Freehold Township, reporting a median pensionable salary of $73,546.
As a municipality in Monmouth County, Freehold Township falls under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system, which governs competitive hiring, classification, and promotion for its employees.
It is one of 25 confirmed civil service jurisdictions in Monmouth 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.
Freehold Township Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 25 civil service jurisdictions in Monmouth County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Freehold Township
202 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Freehold Township. 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 | 131 | 65% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 71 | 35% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 71 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 Freehold Township actually appoints.
4 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 Freehold Township.
Pensionable salary at Freehold Township
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Freehold Township reports a pensionable salary above $73,546 and half below, across 202 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $44,688 |
| 25th percentile | $52,831 |
| Median | $73,546 |
| 75th percentile | $108,939 |
| 90th percentile | $168,794 |
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 21 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 52nd percentile, level with the county's midpoint of $73,546. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 48th 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 Freehold Township
The median enrolled member at Freehold Township has 9.3 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 4.3 and 21 years. 30% 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 | 64 | 32% |
| 5 to 10 years | 46 | 23% |
| 10 to 15 years | 20 | 10% |
| 15 to 20 years | 12 | 6% |
| 20 to 25 years | 30 | 15% |
| 25 years or more | 30 | 15% |
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 Freehold Township, 42% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 63 | 31% |
| Tier 2 | 3 | 1% |
| Tier 3 | 52 | 26% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 84 | 42% |
Other public employers in Freehold Township
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Freehold Township. 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 |
|---|---|
| FREEHOLD TWP BD OF ED | 646 |
| FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP (this page) | 202 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Freehold Township
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.
Promotional examinations are closed. They are open to employees already serving in the unit, scored on a combination of the examination and seniority, and they are how most supervisory positions in local government get filled. It is the main reason entry-level appointments matter so much: they are the door to the ladder above them.
Civil service employers in Freehold Township
Freehold Township appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the township government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
Nothing else in Freehold Township appears alongside it. No library board, fire district, utilities authority or housing authority here holds separate status, which means every local job in Freehold Township that falls under Title 11A is a job with the township government itself.
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 Monmouth County
Monmouth County holds 25 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 16 municipalities, 4 fire districts, 2 housing authorities, 1 county government, 1 public library, and 1 municipal utilities authority.
16 of the county's 53 municipalities are among them.
Monmouth 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: Asbury Park City, Belmar Borough, Belmar Housing Authority, Freehold Borough, Hazlet Fire District (1), Hazlet Township, Highlands Borough, Holmdel Township. See all 25 in Monmouth County.
Common questions about Freehold Township
Is Freehold Township a civil service employer?
Yes. Freehold Township 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.
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 Freehold Township employees are in a State pension system?
202 active memberships are reported through Freehold Township, split across 131 in PERS and 71 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 Freehold Township?
$73,546, with the middle half of members between $52,831 and $108,939. 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 Freehold Township compare with the rest of Monmouth County?
Its median pensionable salary of $73,546 sits at the 52nd percentile among the 21 civil service jurisdictions in Monmouth County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $73,546. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Freehold Township?
The median enrolled member has 9.3 years of credited service, and 30% 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.