Passaic County, New Jersey
Passaic County · Paterson · sixteen municipalities still hire a county
Paterson is the seat and the largest city. Passaic City is a municipality.
Passaic is a North Jersey county on the Passaic River, created 1837. Paterson is the seat. It is also the largest city. The City of Passaic is a municipality. It is not the county hall. Clifton, Wayne, and the Highlands towns are this map. Trenton is the capital of New Jersey and sits in Mercer. Paterson is not the capital.
Sixteen municipalities run from the Falls and the first-ward streets up to West Milford, the largest by land. Newark is Essex. Hackensack is Bergen. Morristown is Morris. Newton is later (Sussex). Trenton is Mercer.
This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — Hamilton Street court security, process, and a jail this badge no longer operates — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Passaic County.
Seven Commissioners. No Executive. No Falls as the capital.
Passaic is governed by a Board of County Commissioners of seven, elected at-large on a stagger. There is no County Executive. An appointed County Administrator runs day-to-day departments from the Administration Building, 401 Grand Street, Paterson. The board reorganizes each January and names a director. That is not Mercer’s Executive map. That is not Hudson’s Executive-plus-Register map. That is not Essex’s Executive-plus-Register map.
The Sheriff is a constitutional officer, three years, Article VII, Section II, paragraph 2. The board does not hire this badge. Last regular sheriff general was 2024. Next regular is Tuesday, 2 November 2027. Tuesday, 3 November 2026 is not this oval. Mercer — the capital — is 2026. Monmouth, Morris, and Ocean on this wave are 2028. The Governor is 2029.
Great Falls to West Milford is one county
The Passaic River, the Great Falls, Interstate 80, Route 23, Route 46, and the Highlands are this land. The courthouse complex lists at 77 Hamilton Street. The Administration Building lists at 401 Grand Street. No gold capitol dome as the county hall — that dome sits in Mercer. Staff who treat the City of Passaic as the shire are on the wrong municipality. Staff who treat Paterson as the capital are on the wrong city.
How a Paterson public actually files a paper
Each of the sixteen municipalities has a site. Clifton’s site does not speak for West Milford. The Sheriff’s listing speaks for court, process, warrants, patrol, and transport. This county does not operate its own jail. People remanded by Passaic courts are housed at the Bergen County Jail, 160 South River Street, Hackensack, or the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny. The former jail at 11 Marshall Street was demolished after a 2022 shared-services agreement. The County Clerk sits at 401 Grand Street. Do not send a Wayne family to Trenton for a county paper. Do not send them to the City of Passaic for a county writ.
Hamilton Street is court. The jail left Marshall Street.
Crime in Paterson is often Paterson Police. Crime in Clifton is often Clifton Police. New Jersey State Police is the state. Civil process, Superior Court security at 77 Hamilton Street, sheriff sales, and county patrol this badge actually runs are this Sheriff. Housing as a local jail is another county’s house, under shared services. Rights do not change at the West Milford line. Remedy for city police is the City. Remedy for a Sheriff’s paper is the Sheriff. Relief when ice closes Route 23 is this count first.
A student who does not treat Wayne as the county hall
A student uses town pages, the county jobs board, or the Sheriff’s official listing. Law Enforcement Division headquarters list at 435 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne. Court services list at 77 Hamilton Street, Paterson. Wayne is this county. It is not the seat. Outreach that only knows one Falls postcard is not doing Bloomingdale or Wanaque.
Place snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Paterson · Capital of New Jersey: Trenton (Mercer)
- Government: seven Commissioners · appointed Administrator · no Executive
- Sheriff: three years · next regular 2027 · does not operate a county jail
- Not Mercer · Not the capital · Not the City of Passaic as the hall
What this is not
- Not the capital of New Jersey. Not Trenton. Not Mercer.
- Not the City of Passaic as the county. Not Wayne as the seat.
- Not Essex. Not Newark. Not Bergen. Not Hackensack.
- Not a county jail at 11 Marshall Street. That house is gone.
- Not a campaign flyer.