Morris County
County Government · Morris County
1,479 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Morris County, reporting a median pensionable salary of $58,221.
Morris County, a county government in Morris County, operates under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system rather than setting its own hiring rules independently.
Within Morris County, 19 local government entities in total carry this same confirmed status.
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 19 civil service jurisdictions in Morris County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Morris County
1,479 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Morris 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 | 1,187 | 80% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 292 | 20% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 292 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 Morris County actually appoints.
10 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 Morris County.
Pensionable salary at Morris County
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Morris County reports a pensionable salary above $58,221 and half below, across 1,479 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $34,981 |
| 25th percentile | $42,806 |
| Median | $58,221 |
| 75th percentile | $82,973 |
| 90th percentile | $111,614 |
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 10 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 10th percentile, below the county's midpoint of $80,127. Against the 20 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 35th 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 Morris County
The median enrolled member at Morris County has 9.4 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 3.3 and 20.3 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 | 505 | 34% |
| 5 to 10 years | 253 | 17% |
| 10 to 15 years | 191 | 13% |
| 15 to 20 years | 155 | 10% |
| 20 to 25 years | 222 | 15% |
| 25 years or more | 153 | 10% |
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 Morris County, 50% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 475 | 32% |
| Tier 2 | 39 | 3% |
| Tier 3 | 206 | 14% |
| Tier 4 | 14 | 1% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 745 | 50% |
What civil service status means for jobs at Morris 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.
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.
Passing an examination puts you on an eligible list, not into a job. Lists are promulgated for a fixed life, commonly three years, and the Commission certifies names from the live list whenever an employer reports a vacancy. If no list exists for a title when a vacancy opens, the employer has to ask for an examination to be held.
Countywide civil service employers in Morris County
Morris 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.
Two other countywide bodies in Morris County are in the listing as well. They are separate employers with separate hiring, and a candidate list certified to one is not certified to another.
- Boonton Library, public library
- Rockaway 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 Morris County
Morris County holds 19 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 9 municipalities, 8 public libraries, 1 county government, and 1 fire district.
9 of the county's 39 municipalities are among them.
Also in the directory: Butler Borough, Butler Library, Dover, Dover Library, Jefferson Township, Jefferson Township Library, Lincoln Park Borough, Lincoln Park Library. See all 19 in Morris County.
Common questions about Morris County
Is Morris County a civil service employer?
Yes. Morris 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 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 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 Morris County employees are in a State pension system?
1,479 active memberships are reported through Morris County, split across 1,187 in PERS and 292 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 Morris County?
$58,221, with the middle half of members between $42,806 and $82,973. 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 Morris County compare with the rest of Morris County?
Its median pensionable salary of $58,221 sits at the 10th percentile among the 10 civil service jurisdictions in Morris County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $80,127. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Morris County?
The median enrolled member has 9.4 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.