Union County
County Government · Union County
1,259 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Union County, reporting a median pensionable salary of $76,742.
Union County is a confirmed New Jersey civil service jurisdiction — a county government in Union County that has adopted Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes to govern how it hires, classifies, and promotes employees.
Union County has 23 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 23 civil service jurisdictions in Union County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Union County
1,259 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Union 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 | 904 | 72% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 355 | 28% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 355 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 Union County 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 Union County.
Pensionable salary at Union County
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Union County reports a pensionable salary above $76,742 and half below, across 1,259 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $44,455 |
| 25th percentile | $56,732 |
| Median | $76,742 |
| 75th percentile | $114,610 |
| 90th percentile | $132,736 |
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 61st percentile, above the county's midpoint of $72,942. Against the 20 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 95th 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 Union County
The median enrolled member at Union County has 10.8 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 4.8 and 21.3 years. 29% 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 | 324 | 26% |
| 5 to 10 years | 249 | 20% |
| 10 to 15 years | 188 | 15% |
| 15 to 20 years | 134 | 11% |
| 20 to 25 years | 180 | 14% |
| 25 years or more | 184 | 15% |
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 Union County, 43% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 455 | 36% |
| Tier 2 | 35 | 3% |
| Tier 3 | 213 | 17% |
| Tier 4 | 12 | 1% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 544 | 43% |
Other public employers in Union County
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Union 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 |
|---|---|
| UNION COUNTY (this page) | 1,259 |
| UNION TWP BD OF ED (UNION) | 1,029 |
| UNION TOWNSHIP (UNION) | 462 |
| UNION CO BD OF SOCIAL SERVICES | 402 |
| UNION TOWNSHIP LIBRARY | 18 |
| UNION CO UTILITIES AUTHORITY | 10 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Union 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.
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.
Temporary and seasonal appointments sit outside the permanent track entirely. Summer recreation staff, short-term project help and coverage for an absent employee are filled without an examination and end when the need does. The work counts as experience when you later apply for a competitive title, but it confers no status of its own.
Countywide civil service employers in Union County
Union 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.
It is the only countywide body from Union in the listing. Every other Union County jurisdiction is a municipality or a body attached to one, each holding status on its own account.
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 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.
Also in the directory: Roselle Library, Scotch Plains, Scotch Plains Library, Union Township, Union Township Board of Health, Union Township Library, Clark Library, Clark Township. See all 23 in Union County.
Common questions about Union County
Is Union County a civil service employer?
Yes. Union 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.
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.
How many Union County employees are in a State pension system?
1,259 active memberships are reported through Union County, split across 904 in PERS and 355 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 Union County?
$76,742, with the middle half of members between $56,732 and $114,610. 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 Union County compare with the rest of Union County?
Its median pensionable salary of $76,742 sits at the 61st 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 Union County?
The median enrolled member has 10.8 years of credited service, and 29% 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.