Urban and Regional Planners salary

SOC 19-3051 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$89,320

per year, nationally

Middle half

$72,020–$110,030

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

44,230

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.4%

3,400 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$60,010$134,490

10th: $60,010
25th: $72,020
Median: $89,320
75th: $110,030
90th: $134,490

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Master's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where urban and regional planners earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	District of Columbia	$137,000	109.9	120	0.58×
2	California	$109,610	110.7	7,460	1.44×
3	Oregon	$103,070	103.4	1,010	1.80×
4	Arizona	$102,400	100.7	1,330	1.44×
5	Colorado	$101,340	103.1	1,300	1.59×
6	Washington	$100,990	107.0	3,180	3.15×
7	Nevada	$100,040	100.0	270	0.60×
8	Connecticut	$99,880	103.6	350	0.73×
9	Massachusetts	$99,780	105.8	1,540	1.48×
10	Minnesota	$97,060	98.6	860	1.02×
11	Alaska	$93,860	102.4	230	2.51×
12	Illinois	$91,360	100.0	1,140	0.66×
13	Rhode Island	$90,210	102.3	160	1.09×
14	New York	$89,630	107.9	2,420	0.88×
15	Maryland	$88,570	105.0	900	1.14×
16	New Jersey	$86,280	108.8	790	0.65×
17	Virginia	$86,030	101.1	1,740	1.49×
18	Hawaii	$85,590	110.0	450	2.55×
19	Vermont	$84,750	98.0	100	1.18×
20	Utah	$84,360	98.9	500	1.02×
21	Wisconsin	$84,290	94.1	1,100	1.31×
22	Texas	$82,830	97.1	2,190	0.55×
23	Kansas	$82,330	90.1	250	0.62×
24	Oklahoma	$81,520	87.8	350	0.73×
25	North Carolina	$81,230	94.3	1,630	1.16×
26	Pennsylvania	$80,810	97.6	860	0.50×
27	Montana	$80,770	94.6	270	1.88×
28	Missouri	$80,720	90.8	440	0.53×
29	Florida	$80,720	103.4	2,620	0.93×
30	Georgia	$80,030	96.3	1,150	0.83×
31	Ohio	$79,950	92.8	760	0.48×
32	Maine	$79,120	97.0	190	1.03×
33	Iowa	$79,100	87.8	300	0.67×
34	Tennessee	$78,970	91.9	310	0.33×
35	Michigan	$78,510	96.2	1,380	1.10×
36	North Dakota	$78,500	89.0	210	1.72×
37	New Mexico	$77,710	92.2	270	1.11×
38	Idaho	$76,500	95.5	350	1.43×
39	South Carolina	$75,810	93.7	530	0.82×
40	Nebraska	$74,830	90.1	360	1.24×
41	Louisiana	$74,500	88.2	240	0.44×
42	New Hampshire	$73,860	104.2	260	1.32×
43	South Dakota	$71,180	88.6	210	1.60×
44	Indiana	$70,760	93.3	620	0.68×
45	Alabama	$70,710	88.8	520	0.86×
46	Wyoming	$70,190	92.7	110	1.34×
47	Delaware	$67,110	99.8	290	2.08×
48	Kentucky	$65,000	90.2	180	0.31×
49	Arkansas	$63,530	86.9	80	0.22×
50	West Virginia	$61,390	89.5	160	0.81×
51	Mississippi	$60,300	87.0	200	0.61×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where urban and regional planners wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for urban and regional planners

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$139,360	110.4	320	0.98×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$136,250	115.6	1,250	1.85×
3	Vallejo, CA	$129,790	108.5	70	1.65×
4	Napa, CA	$128,530	112.6	30	1.40×
5	Salinas, CA	$125,300	109.0	100	1.92×
6	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$123,090	107.8	110	1.92×
7	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$112,270	109.9	100	3.41×
8	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$111,380	113.6	1,920	1.08×
9	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$110,520	110.5	110	1.21×
10	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$109,920	108.6	100	2.78×
11	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$109,150	103.2	50	0.75×
12	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$108,760	106.4	490	1.00×
13	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$108,040	111.1	1,430	2.41×
14	Salem, OR	$107,960	103.6	130	2.45×
15	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$107,710	111.9	760	1.75×
16	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$107,470	103.3	1,000	1.48×
17	Redding, CA	$106,920	100.7	50	2.53×
18	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$106,920	105.1	70	0.80×
19	Reno, NV	$105,900	101.0	70	0.92×
20	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$105,890	105.8	670	1.46×
21	Bend, OR	$105,720	103.6	70	2.17×
22	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$105,500	108.8	150	2.59×
23	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$105,440	105.6	100	3.80×
24	Fresno, CA	$105,330	102.2	170	1.27×
25	Greeley, CO	$105,200	100.2	60	1.68×
26	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$104,770	108.9	1,250	1.40×
27	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$103,970	104.8	580	1.04×
28	Madison, WI	$103,940	97.3	140	1.20×
29	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$103,460	108.3	1,100	1.43×
30	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$103,070	105.4	620	1.79×
31	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$102,490	106.9	80	0.68×
32	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$102,380	101.6	80	1.82×
33	Visalia, CA	$102,200	99.8	70	1.34×
34	Anchorage, AK	$102,110	105.4	110	2.11×
35	Barnstable Town, MA	$101,940	98.4	50	1.71×
36	Boulder, CO	$101,710	105.2	110	2.10×
37	Huntsville, AL	$101,500	93.1	50	0.64×
38	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$101,230	96.9	200	0.85×
39	Bellingham, WA	$100,050	103.3	110	4.12×
40	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$99,830	100.4	40	1.01×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where urban and regional planners wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists$100,580
School Psychologists$95,990
Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other$101,110
Psychologists, All Other$110,840
Economists$124,720
Anthropologists and Archeologists$70,770
Survey Researchers$69,460
Political Scientists$142,080