Salem City
Municipality · Salem County
45 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Salem City, reporting a median pensionable salary of $83,000.
Salem City is a confirmed New Jersey civil service jurisdiction — a municipality in Salem County that has adopted Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes to govern how it hires, classifies, and promotes employees.
Salem County has 5 confirmed civil service jurisdictions in total, including this one.
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.
Salem City Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 5 civil service jurisdictions in Salem County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Salem City
45 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Salem City. 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 | 23 | 51% |
| PERS | Public Employees' Retirement System | 22 | 49% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 23 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 Salem City actually appoints.
1 of these members holds 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 Salem City.
Pensionable salary at Salem City
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Salem City reports a pensionable salary above $83,000 and half below, across 45 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $43,584 |
| 25th percentile | $53,485 |
| Median | $83,000 |
| 75th percentile | $92,180 |
| 90th percentile | $100,763 |
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 4 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 100th percentile, above the county's midpoint of $68,964. Against the 194 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 Salem City
The median enrolled member at Salem City has 7.7 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 3.3 and 15.2 years. 18% 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 | 13 | 29% |
| 5 to 10 years | 16 | 36% |
| 10 to 15 years | 4 | 9% |
| 15 to 20 years | 4 | 9% |
| 20 to 25 years | 5 | 11% |
| 25 years or more | 3 | 7% |
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 Salem City, 38% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 12 | 27% |
| Tier 3 | 16 | 36% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 17 | 38% |
Other public employers in Salem
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Salem. 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 |
|---|---|
| SALEM COUNTY | 397 |
| SALEM CITY BD OF ED | 207 |
| SALEM CO BD OF SOCIAL SERVICES | 67 |
| SALEM CITY (this page) | 45 |
| SALEM CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY | 3 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Salem City
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.
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.
When there is no eligible list for a title, an employer can fill the job provisionally. Provisional service is real work at real pay, but it builds no permanent rights, and the employer is supposed to request an examination so the position can be filled permanently. Anyone appointed provisionally who wants to keep the job needs to take that examination when it comes.
Civil service employers in Salem
Salem 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 Salem body is listed separately: Salem City 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.
- Salem City 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 Salem County
Salem County holds 5 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 1 board of social services, 1 county government, 1 housing authority, 1 public library, and 1 municipality.
1 of the county's 15 municipalities are among them.
Salem 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: Penns Grove Housing Authority, Salem City Library, Salem County Board of Social Services. See all 5 in Salem County.
Common questions about Salem City
Is Salem City a civil service employer?
Yes. Salem City 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 Salem City cover the rest of Salem?
No. Salem 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.
Do veterans get a preference on these lists?
Yes, and in New Jersey it is unusually strong. On an open competitive list, disabled veterans who pass are ranked ahead of all other candidates, and other veterans who pass are ranked ahead of non-veterans, regardless of score. Preference has to be claimed and verified in advance, and it does not carry over to promotional examinations.
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.
How many Salem City employees are in a State pension system?
45 active memberships are reported through Salem City, split across 23 in PFRS and 22 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 Salem City?
$83,000, with the middle half of members between $53,485 and $92,180. 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 Salem City compare with the rest of Salem County?
Its median pensionable salary of $83,000 sits at the 100th percentile among the 4 civil service jurisdictions in Salem County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $68,964. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Salem City?
The median enrolled member has 7.7 years of credited service, and 18% 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.