Loans Receivable and Allowance for Loan Losses (Number of TDR's and Recorded Investment) (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($) SecurityLoan	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($) SecurityLoan
Residential [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Number of Loans \| SecurityLoan	1	0
Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 2,517	$ 0
Mortgage Loans [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Number of Loans \| SecurityLoan	1	0
Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 2,517	$ 0
Commercial Loans [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Number of Loans \| SecurityLoan	4
Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 6,809
Consumer Loans [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Number of Loans \| SecurityLoan		0
Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $		$ 0
Finance Leases Portfolio Segment [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Number of Loans \| SecurityLoan	5	0
Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 9,326	$ 0

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AccountsNotesAndLoansReceivableLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of financing receivables that have been modified by troubled debt restructurings within the previous 12 months and for which there was a payment default.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 34
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49124121&loc=SL6953682-111524

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsSubsequentDefaultNumberOfContracts1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of investment related to financing receivables modified by troubled debt restructurings within the previous 12 months, for which there was a payment default.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsSubsequentDefaultRecordedInvestment1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_ResidentialMortgageMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=pfs_MortgageLoansMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_CommercialLoanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_ConsumerLoanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_FinanceLeasesPortfolioSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: