Urban Planner
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Urban Planner plans and designs projects that maintain or improve the quality of life in urban areas or regions. Addresses specific transportation, economic development, housing and environmental issues. Develops plans that address aesthetic as well as technical concerns. Identifies community goals and anticipates the future impact of development plans.
Job Outlook
There were 91 Urban Planner job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2971 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Urban / Transportation Planner industry, which includes the Urban Planner career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Urban Planner jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $84,618.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $88,889.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Urban Planner postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $67,951.
Education and Experience
Posted Urban Planner jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 69.03% |
| Master's Degree | 51.53% |
| Doctoral Degree | 2.59% |
| Other | 1.82% |
Posted Urban Planner jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 38.49% |
| 3 to 5 years | 40.56% |
| 6 to 8 years | 10.99% |
| 9+ years | 9.96% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Urban Planner positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Planning (83.07%)
- Research (52.37%)
- Communication (44.53%)
- Presentations (41.06%)
- Writing (28.41%)
- Coordinating (26.29%)
- Management (23.86%)
- Microsoft Office (23.73%)
- Leadership (18.21%)
- Detail Oriented (14.84%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Urban Design (36.83%)
- Project Management (39.17%)
- Landscape Architecture (30.15%)
- Project Planning (23.43%)
- Urban Planning (60.87%)
- Geographic Information Systems (12.72%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Surveys (5.32%)
- Land Zoning (11.46%)
- Transportation Planning (18.04%)
- SketchUp (3D Modeling Software) (14.88%)
- Site Planning (7.62%)
- Rhinoceros 3D (7.98%)
- Regional Planning (16.53%)
- Public Policies (11.97%)
- Planning Permission (1.44%)
- Research Methodologies (3.52%)
- Land Development (10.96%)
- Land-Use Planning (11.43%)
- Land Use (14.05%)
- Graphic Design (7.83%)
- Geography (9.49%)
- Public Administration (16.92%)
- Economics (11.97%)
- Economic Development (9.41%)
- Feasibility Studies (4.53%)
- Data Collection (12.4%)
- Community Development (10.74%)
- Comprehensive Planning (10.56%)
- Civil Engineering (11.64%)
- Autodesk Revit (8.77%)
- Business Development (10.13%)
- Data Analysis (14.12%)
- ArcGIS (GIS Software) (20.23%)
- Adobe Illustrator (11.14%)
- Adobe Photoshop (10.03%)
- Adobe Creative Suite (16.78%)
- Adobe InDesign (13.15%)
- Computer-Aided Design (2.95%)
- AutoCAD (21.6%)
- Policy Development (3.41%)
- Historic Preservation (8.41%)
- Community Planning (6.29%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Neighborhood Planning (4.74%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Neighborhood Planning (6.09%)
- Urban Planning (78.21%)
- Landscape Architecture (38.73%)
- Urban Design (47.32%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Urban Planner skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Planner
- Capacity Planning Analyst
- Urban Designer
- Planner Intern
- Planner/Urban Designer
- Planning Intern
- Urban Planning Intern
- Estate Planner
- Principal
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Urban Planner jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- HNTB (207)
- Cadmus International Limited (150)
- Kimley-Horn (79)
- AECOM (74)
- Stantec (44)
- Johns Hopkins University (38)
- HDR (32)
- City of New York (25)
- WSP Global (23)
- Urban Outfitters (21)
North Carolina
- City of Raleigh (10)
- Mcadams (6)
- City Of Charlotte (6)
- Ls3P Associates Ltd. (6)
- Kimley-Horn (5)
- Page Southerland & Page (5)
- Progressive Companies (4)
- City Of Wilmington (4)
- Johns Hopkins University (3)
- Cadmus International Limited (3)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.