Ocean County
County Government · Ocean County
2,107 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Ocean County, reporting a median pensionable salary of $59,186.
Ocean County is a confirmed New Jersey civil service jurisdiction — a county government in Ocean County that has adopted Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes to govern how it hires, classifies, and promotes employees.
Ocean County has 28 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 28 civil service jurisdictions in Ocean County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Ocean County
2,107 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Ocean 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 | 1,722 | 82% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 385 | 18% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 385 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 Ocean County actually appoints.
14 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 Ocean County.
Pensionable salary at Ocean County
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Ocean County reports a pensionable salary above $59,186 and half below, across 2,107 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $39,497 |
| 25th percentile | $46,792 |
| Median | $59,186 |
| 75th percentile | $76,266 |
| 90th percentile | $96,444 |
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 17th percentile, below the county's midpoint of $67,000. Against the 20 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 45th 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 Ocean County
The median enrolled member at Ocean County has 9.5 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 3.8 and 19.8 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 | 654 | 31% |
| 5 to 10 years | 450 | 21% |
| 10 to 15 years | 260 | 12% |
| 15 to 20 years | 225 | 11% |
| 20 to 25 years | 314 | 15% |
| 25 years or more | 204 | 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 Ocean County, 53% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 659 | 31% |
| Tier 2 | 75 | 4% |
| Tier 3 | 242 | 11% |
| Tier 4 | 9 | 0% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 1,122 | 53% |
What civil service status means for jobs at Ocean 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.
New Jersey does not require an employer to hire whoever scored highest. When a list is certified, the appointing authority may choose among the top three interested candidates, which is why a rank of two or three on a list is still a serious position and why interviews still decide outcomes.
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.
Countywide civil service employers in Ocean County
Ocean 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.
Four other countywide bodies in Ocean 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.
- Ocean County Board of Health, board of health
- Ocean County Board of Social Services, board of social services
- Ocean County Library, public library
- Ocean County Mosquito Extermination, mosquito extermination commission
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 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.
Also in the directory: Brick Township, Jackson Fire Districts (3), Jackson Municipal Utilities Authority, Jackson Township, Lacey Township, Lakehurst, Lakewood Fire District (1), Lakewood Municipal Utilities Authority. See all 28 in Ocean County.
Common questions about Ocean County
Is Ocean County a civil service employer?
Yes. Ocean 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.
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.
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 Ocean County employees are in a State pension system?
2,107 active memberships are reported through Ocean County, split across 1,722 in PERS and 385 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 Ocean County?
$59,186, with the middle half of members between $46,792 and $76,266. 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 Ocean County compare with the rest of Ocean County?
Its median pensionable salary of $59,186 sits at the 17th 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 Ocean County?
The median enrolled member has 9.5 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.