Plainfield Housing Authority
Housing Authority · Union County
17 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Plainfield Housing Authority, reporting a median pensionable salary of $56,666.
Plainfield Housing Authority, a housing authority in Union County, operates under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system rather than setting its own hiring rules independently.
Within Union County, 23 local government entities in total carry this same confirmed status.
About housing authorities in New Jersey
A housing authority manages public and subsidized housing for a municipality or county, and it operates with its own board, budget, and staff, independent of the town government. Like libraries, that independence means a housing authority can be a civil service jurisdiction even when its home municipality is not, or vice versa.
See all 23 civil service jurisdictions in Union County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Plainfield Housing Authority
17 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Plainfield Housing Authority. 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 | 17 | 100% |
Pensionable salary at Plainfield Housing Authority
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Plainfield Housing Authority reports a pensionable salary above $56,666 and half below, across 17 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $42,214 |
| 25th percentile | $52,241 |
| Median | $56,666 |
| 75th percentile | $73,054 |
| 90th percentile | $82,985 |
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 18 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 33rd percentile, below the county's midpoint of $72,942. Against the 16 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 Plainfield Housing Authority
The median enrolled member at Plainfield Housing Authority has 5.7 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 2.6 and 26.3 years. 35% 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 | 7 | 41% |
| 5 to 10 years | 2 | 12% |
| 15 to 20 years | 2 | 12% |
| 20 to 25 years | 1 | 6% |
| 25 years or more | 5 | 29% |
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 Plainfield Housing Authority, 53% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 7 | 41% |
| Tier 2 | 1 | 6% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 9 | 53% |
Other public employers in Plainfield
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Plainfield. 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 |
|---|---|
| PLAINFIELD BD OF ED | 1,554 |
| PLAINFIELD CITY | 507 |
| PLAINFIELD HOUSING AUTHORITY (this page) | 17 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Plainfield Housing Authority
A housing authority runs public and subsidized housing for its community with its own board of commissioners, its own budget, and staff who are not municipal employees. Its civil service status is decided on its own account, which is why an authority can appear in the Commission's listing when the town around it does not.
The staffing splits three ways. Management titles run the developments and the leasing operation. Housing assistance technicians handle eligibility, recertification and rent calculation for the voucher programs. Inspection titles cover unit condition and code compliance. Maintenance work is usually filled through the general trades and labor titles rather than housing-specific ones.
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.
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.
Civil service employers in Plainfield
Plainfield Housing Authority serves Plainfield City, a city in Union County, but it is in the listing as a housing authority on its own account rather than as part of the city government.
The Plainfield government is listed too: Plainfield. Both run under Title 11A, and both certify their own appointments, so applying to one tells you nothing about openings at the other.
One further Plainfield body is listed as well, which puts three separate civil service employers inside one town.
- Plainfield Library, public library
Civil service titles used by New Jersey housing authorities
Real classifications that New Jersey housing authorities 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 Union County
Union County holds 23 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 9 public libraries, 9 municipalities, 2 boards of health, 2 housing authorities, and 1 county government.
9 of the county's 21 municipalities are among them.
Union 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: Plainfield, Plainfield Library, Rahway, Rahway Library, Roselle Borough, Roselle Library, Scotch Plains, Scotch Plains Library. See all 23 in Union County.
Common questions about Plainfield Housing Authority
Is Plainfield Housing Authority a civil service employer?
Yes. Plainfield Housing Authority 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 Plainfield Housing Authority cover the rest of Plainfield?
No. Plainfield 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.
Are there jobs here that never go through an examination?
Yes. Unclassified positions, which typically include department heads and confidential staff, are filled at the discretion of the appointing authority. Noncompetitive and labor titles inside the classified service are also filled without a competitive examination, though they still sit under civil service rules for things like layoff rights.
Does the Civil Service Commission decide who gets hired?
No. The Commission runs the examination, ranks the candidates and certifies the list. The employer is the appointing authority: it decides whether to fill the position at all and which of the reachable candidates to appoint. That division is why a high score improves your odds without guaranteeing anything.
How many Plainfield Housing Authority employees are in a State pension system?
17 active memberships are reported through Plainfield Housing Authority, split across 17 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 Plainfield Housing Authority?
$56,666, with the middle half of members between $52,241 and $73,054. 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 Plainfield Housing Authority compare with the rest of Union County?
Its median pensionable salary of $56,666 sits at the 33rd percentile among the 18 civil service jurisdictions in Union County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $72,942. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Plainfield Housing Authority?
The median enrolled member has 5.7 years of credited service, and 35% 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.