Passaic County
County Government · Passaic County
1,430 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Passaic County, reporting a median pensionable salary of $70,103.
Passaic County, a county government in Passaic County, operates under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system rather than setting its own hiring rules independently.
Within Passaic County, 20 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 20 civil service jurisdictions in Passaic County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Passaic County
1,430 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Passaic 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 | 1,050 | 73% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 380 | 27% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 380 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 Passaic County actually appoints.
18 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 Passaic County.
Pensionable salary at Passaic County
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Passaic County reports a pensionable salary above $70,103 and half below, across 1,430 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $40,690 |
| 25th percentile | $49,677 |
| Median | $70,103 |
| 75th percentile | $115,914 |
| 90th percentile | $134,698 |
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 11 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 36th percentile, below the county's midpoint of $74,681. Against the 20 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 75th 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 Passaic County
The median enrolled member at Passaic County has 11.7 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 5.4 and 21.6 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 | 334 | 23% |
| 5 to 10 years | 266 | 19% |
| 10 to 15 years | 258 | 18% |
| 15 to 20 years | 138 | 10% |
| 20 to 25 years | 248 | 17% |
| 25 years or more | 186 | 13% |
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 Passaic County, 44% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 542 | 38% |
| Tier 2 | 19 | 1% |
| Tier 3 | 234 | 16% |
| Tier 4 | 9 | 1% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 626 | 44% |
Other public employers in Passaic County
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Passaic County. 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 |
|---|---|
| PASSAIC BOARD OF EDUCATION | 1,838 |
| PASSAIC COUNTY (this page) | 1,430 |
| PASSAIC CITY | 476 |
| PASSAIC CO BD OF SOCIAL SERVIC | 411 |
| PASSAIC CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY | 31 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Passaic 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.
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.
Countywide civil service employers in Passaic County
Passaic 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.
One other countywide body in Passaic County is in the listing as well. They are separate employers with separate hiring, and a candidate list certified to one is not certified to another.
- Passaic County Board of Social Services, board of social services
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 Passaic County
Passaic County holds 20 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 8 municipalities, 7 public libraries, 3 municipal utilities authorities, 1 board of social services, and 1 county government.
8 of the county's 16 municipalities are among them.
Also in the directory: Paterson, Paterson Library, Pompton Lakes Borough, Pompton Lakes Library, Pompton Lakes Municipal Utilities Authority, Ringwood Borough, Wanaque Borough, Wanaque Library. See all 20 in Passaic County.
Common questions about Passaic County
Is Passaic County a civil service employer?
Yes. Passaic 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 Passaic County employees are in a State pension system?
1,430 active memberships are reported through Passaic County, split across 1,050 in PERS and 380 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 Passaic County?
$70,103, with the middle half of members between $49,677 and $115,914. 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 Passaic County compare with the rest of Passaic County?
Its median pensionable salary of $70,103 sits at the 36th percentile among the 11 civil service jurisdictions in Passaic County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $74,681. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Passaic County?
The median enrolled member has 11.7 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.