NJ Civil Service Navigator

Inspector Family

Career series with 11 positions across 3 levels

Inspector groups 11 related titles into a 3-level career ladder.

Entry is typically through Inspector 1 Fire Safety, advancing through the ladder toward Inspector 3 Fire Safety and, from there, into supervisory roles. Pay across the family spans $57,158 to $128,719, around the 54th percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 123 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Community Affairs.

Inspector is a common next step after Water Meter Inspector / Meter Worker and Environmental Compliance Inspector.

11
Positions
3
Career Levels
6
Specializations
Salary Range: $57,158 - $128,719/year

Specializations

Bulkheads And Dredging Construction Fire Safety Multiple Dwellings New Jersey Racing Commission Road Openings

Positions in This Family

What the Inspector family covers

Inspector covers 11 title codes arranged into 3 levels of responsibility. The family straddles jurisdictions: 10 state and 1 local, so parts of it are hired by state departments and parts by local civil service employers.

Inspectors and examiners are the operating arm of New Jersey's regulatory statutes, and the title usually tracks the law it enforces rather than a profession. That is why these families are narrow and numerous: weights and measures, construction code, environmental compliance, child care, insurance and market conduct each get their own series. Many require a state credential issued by another agency before you can hold the title at all, so the license, not the exam, is the real bottleneck. Local health and code enforcement offices hire the same titles as the state.

The ladder, ordered by pay

The Inspector rungs, listed from the best paid down. Here the numbering happens to agree with the pay order, which is not guaranteed elsewhere in New Jersey's plan.

The distance from the bottom of Senior Inspector, Construction to the top of Inspector 3 Multiple Dwellings is $71,561, an increase of about 125% over the entry minimum.

What each title does

Reading the definitions side by side is the quickest way to see what changes as you move through the family.

  • Senior Inspector, Road Openings: Under direction, takes the lead over other inspectors and inspects road openings for compliance with plans, specifications and regulations; does other…
  • Senior Inspector, Construction: Under direction of a Principal Inspector, Construction, or other supervisor in a state department, institution, or agency, makes field inspections of…
  • Senior Inspector, Bulkheads and Dredging: Under the limited supervision of the Principal Inspector, Bulkheads and Dredging or other higher level official in the Department of Environmental…
  • Inspector 1 Fire Safety: Under general supervision of an Inspector 3, Fire Safety or other supervisory official in the Department of Community Affairs, performs the field work involved in…
  • Inspector 2 Fire Safety: INSPECTOR 2 FIRE SAFETY DEFINITON Under the direction of an Inspector 3, Fire Safety or other supervisory officer in the Department of Community Affairs, leads a team of inspectors involved in the…
  • Inspector 3 Fire Safety: Under the direction of the Supervisor of Fire Safety, Code Inspections in the Department of Community Affairs, supervises teams, inspectors, and work activities…
  • Inspector 3 Multiple Dwellings: Under the direction of a Supervisor of Enforcement or other supervisory official in the Department of Community Affairs, supervises the inspection staff…
  • Inspector 2 Multiple Dwellings: Under the general supervision of an Inspector 3, Multiple Dwellings or other supervisory official in the Department of Community Affairs, takes the lead…

Showing 8 of 11 published definitions in this family. The full list of titles is below.

Requirements across the family

Across the 11 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as a bachelor's degree on 4 of them. Stated experience runs from 2 years at the lowest rung to 5 at the highest, which is the main thing separating one level from the next.

3 of the 11 titles carry a license or certification requirement. On how the jobs are filled: 10 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination and 1 is unclassified, which means appointment at the employer's discretion and salary set individually. 2 titles in this family are covered by the compendium's special incentive program, which lets an appointing authority hire a qualified candidate above the bottom step instead of starting them at step one. See the full list of incentive titles.

Who actually employs these titles

State payroll records show 123 people working under 6 of this family's titles, spread across 1 agency. Community Affairs alone accounts for about 100% of them.

  • Community Affairs — 123 employees

Median actual pay varies across the family, from $68,314 for Inspector 1 Fire Safety up to $112,421 for Inspector 3 Multiple Dwellings. Those are medians of what people are really paid, not schedule minimums and maximums.

State payroll only, deduplicated by payroll title; local employers file separately, so a family with local codes looks smaller here than it is. How this is counted.

How the pay is set

The family is split across 2 salary schedules (A-P-R-S and C-I-O), so two titles that look adjacent can be paid from different tables with different step structures. More than one union has members in this family: CWA and IFPTE.

Where these jobs exist

Because the family mixes jurisdictions, the answer to "who hires this" depends on the specific code. State codes run through the Civil Service Commission's announcement and eligible list process; local codes are hired by the counties, municipalities and authorities that adopted civil service under Title 11A. Check an employer's status before assuming a title is available where you live.

Related titles elsewhere in the plan

Other classifications built on the same terms as Inspector. Worth checking if this family has no current opening.

Families next to this one

New Jersey's classification plan links families by shared terminology and by the routes people actually take between them. These sit closest to Inspector.

Common questions about Inspector jobs

How many Inspector titles are there in New Jersey civil service?

The Inspector family holds 11 title codes arranged across 3 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.

What does an Inspector earn in New Jersey?

Published salary data for this family runs from $57,158 at the bottom of Senior Inspector, Construction to $128,719 at the top of Inspector 3 Multiple Dwellings. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.

Do you need to take an exam to become an Inspector?

Yes for most of the family. 10 of the 11 titles are in the competitive division, which means appointment comes from an eligible list built by an open competitive or promotional examination.

What qualifications does an Inspector need?

The most common education requirement in this family is a bachelor's degree, named on 4 of the 11 titles. Stated experience ranges from 2 to 5 years depending on the rung. 3 of the titles also require a license or certification. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.

Which agencies employ Inspector staff?

State payroll records show 123 people in this family across 1 agency, with Community Affairs the largest at 123. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.