Paterson
Municipality · Passaic County
1,315 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Paterson, reporting a median pensionable salary of $74,681.
Paterson, a municipality 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 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.
Paterson Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 20 civil service jurisdictions in Passaic County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Paterson
1,315 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Paterson. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 743 | 57% |
| PERS | Public Employees' Retirement System | 572 | 43% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 400 police officers and 343 firefighters. PFRS enrolment is the only occupational detail this dataset carries; it lists no job titles, so nothing here says which civil service titles Paterson actually appoints.
9 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 Paterson.
Pensionable salary at Paterson
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Paterson reports a pensionable salary above $74,681 and half below, across 1,315 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $35,265 |
| 25th percentile | $44,577 |
| Median | $74,681 |
| 75th percentile | $120,449 |
| 90th percentile | $144,766 |
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 55th percentile, level with the county's midpoint of $74,681. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 54th 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 Paterson
The median enrolled member at Paterson has 10.2 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 4.3 and 19.9 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 | 356 | 27% |
| 5 to 10 years | 275 | 21% |
| 10 to 15 years | 169 | 13% |
| 15 to 20 years | 190 | 14% |
| 20 to 25 years | 208 | 16% |
| 25 years or more | 117 | 9% |
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 Paterson, 28% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 453 | 34% |
| Tier 2 | 30 | 2% |
| Tier 3 | 461 | 35% |
| Tier 4 | 8 | 1% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 363 | 28% |
Other public employers in Paterson
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Paterson. 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 |
|---|---|
| PATERSON BD OF ED | 3,437 |
| PATERSON CITY (this page) | 1,315 |
| PATERSON HOUSING AUTHORITY | 40 |
| PATERSON PARKING AUTHORITY | 21 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Paterson
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 Paterson
Paterson City appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the city government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
One other Paterson body is listed separately: Paterson Library, a public library. It is a distinct employer with its own hiring, so a job there is not a job with the city, and permanent status earned at one does not carry to the other.
- Paterson Library, public library
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 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.
Passaic 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: Paterson Library, Pompton Lakes Borough, Pompton Lakes Library, Pompton Lakes Municipal Utilities Authority, Ringwood Borough, Wanaque Borough, Wanaque Library, West Milford Library. See all 20 in Passaic County.
Common questions about Paterson
Is Paterson a civil service employer?
Yes. Paterson 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 Paterson cover the rest of Paterson?
No. Paterson 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.
How long does it take to get hired through this process?
Longer than an ordinary job application, and the timing is not in the hands of the employer. An announcement has to close, the examination has to be held and scored, the eligible list has to be promulgated, and only then can the employer request a certification. Several months between filing and an appointment is normal rather than a sign that something has gone wrong.
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 Paterson employees are in a State pension system?
1,315 active memberships are reported through Paterson, split across 743 in PFRS and 572 in PERS. 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 Paterson?
$74,681, with the middle half of members between $44,577 and $120,449. 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 Paterson compare with the rest of Passaic County?
Its median pensionable salary of $74,681 sits at the 55th 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 Paterson?
The median enrolled member has 10.2 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.