Jackson Township
Municipality · Ocean County
235 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Jackson Township, reporting a median pensionable salary of $77,645.
As a municipality in Ocean County, Jackson 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 28 confirmed civil service jurisdictions in Ocean 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.
Jackson Township Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 28 civil service jurisdictions in Ocean County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Jackson Township
235 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Jackson 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 | 135 | 57% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 100 | 43% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 100 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 Jackson Township actually appoints.
3 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 Jackson Township.
Pensionable salary at Jackson Township
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Jackson Township reports a pensionable salary above $77,645 and half below, across 235 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $45,471 |
| 25th percentile | $55,928 |
| Median | $77,645 |
| 75th percentile | $136,543 |
| 90th percentile | $162,944 |
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 23 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 78th percentile, above the county's midpoint of $67,000. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 63rd 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 Jackson Township
The median enrolled member at Jackson Township has 9.5 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 3.6 and 21.4 years. 28% 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 | 76 | 32% |
| 5 to 10 years | 43 | 18% |
| 10 to 15 years | 38 | 16% |
| 15 to 20 years | 13 | 6% |
| 20 to 25 years | 38 | 16% |
| 25 years or more | 27 | 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 Jackson Township, 37% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 70 | 30% |
| Tier 2 | 4 | 2% |
| Tier 3 | 75 | 32% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 86 | 37% |
Other public employers in Jackson Township
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Jackson 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 |
|---|---|
| JACKSON TOWNSHIP BD OF ED | 1,142 |
| JACKSON TOWNSHIP (this page) | 235 |
| JACKSON TWP FIRE DISTRICT 3 | 19 |
| JACKSON TWP FIRE DISTRICT 4 | 9 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Jackson 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.
Admission to an examination is decided on paper before anyone sits down to take it. The requirements printed in the specification are checked against what you wrote on the application, so experience you did not describe is experience that does not count. Vague employment history is the most common reason a qualified applicant never reaches the list.
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.
Civil service employers in Jackson Township
Jackson Township appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the township government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
Two other Jackson Township bodies hold civil service status separately from the township government, listed below. Each runs its own examinations and keeps its own eligible lists, so Jackson Township is really three employers rather than one.
- Jackson Fire Districts (3), fire district
- Jackson 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 Ocean County
Ocean County holds 28 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 16 municipalities, 3 fire districts, 2 school districts, 2 municipal utilities authorities, 1 board of health, 1 board of social services, 1 county government, 1 public library, and 1 mosquito extermination commission.
16 of the county's 33 municipalities are among them.
Ocean 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: Berkeley Township, Brick Fire District (1), Brick School District, Brick Township, Jackson Fire Districts (3), Jackson Municipal Utilities Authority, Lacey Township, Lakehurst. See all 28 in Ocean County.
Common questions about Jackson Township
Is Jackson Township a civil service employer?
Yes. Jackson 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.
Does civil service status at Jackson Township cover the rest of Jackson Township?
No. Jackson Township 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.
Does the state salary schedule apply to local jobs?
No. The salary schedules in the Compensation Compendium cover state employees. A local employer sets its own pay through ordinance and its own collective bargaining, so two towns using the identical civil service title can pay very differently. The title specification is statewide; the money attached to it is local.
Is the job specification the same everywhere?
Yes, and that is the point of the classification system. A title has one specification statewide, covering the definition of the work, the education and experience requirements, and any licence the title depends on. That is what makes experience gained at one civil service employer legible to another, even in a different county.
How many Jackson Township employees are in a State pension system?
235 active memberships are reported through Jackson Township, split across 135 in PERS and 100 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 Jackson Township?
$77,645, with the middle half of members between $55,928 and $136,543. 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 Jackson Township compare with the rest of Ocean County?
Its median pensionable salary of $77,645 sits at the 78th percentile among the 23 civil service jurisdictions in Ocean County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $67,000. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Jackson Township?
The median enrolled member has 9.5 years of credited service, and 28% 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.