Urban planners design and implement infrastructure for communities, including roads, transportation, and public spaces. Most have a master’s degree, and certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners can increase their salary. Local government entities employ most urban planners, with larger populations correlating to higher salaries. Private companies offer higher salaries but fewer positions.
Urban planners – also known as city planners, community planners or regional planners – are responsible for planning, designing and implementing the infrastructure needed to support a population in a given location. Troubleshooting is also a significant part of your job descriptions. Among their many responsibilities, urban planners design roads, alternative methods of transportation, and public areas such as parks, libraries, and schools. Unsurprisingly, two-thirds of urban planners are employed by local government entities. An urban planner’s salary is based on his education, certifications, experience, employer, and specializations he may have, such as urban design or environmental planning.
In the US, fewer than 20 colleges offer a bachelor’s degree in urban planning. There are more than three times as many universities in the US that offer a master’s in urban planning, which is the minimum amount of educational preparation required by the vast majority of government employers. In most cases, an undergraduate student earns their bachelor’s degree in a related field such as political science, economics or geography and then enters a master’s program to study urban planning. A graduate student can pursue a general program or a specialized education in urban planning. The salary of an urban planner is directly proportional to his amount of education and degree of specialization.
Another factor that influences the salary of an urban planner is certification. Certification by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) requires active membership in the profession’s premier organization – the American Planning Association (APA) – plus a combination of minimums in work experience and education. Certification is therefore an indication of professional recognition, experience in the field, and educational preparation. As such, it generally exerts a very positive influence on an urban planner’s salary. As emphasized by the AICP prerequisites, an urban planner’s salary is also strongly correlated with the experience he has in the field.
The salary of an urban planner is also influenced by their employer and whether the organization is public or private in nature. As indicated earlier, local governments employ most urban planners. Local governments, despite being termed “local”, can vary considerably in geographic and population sizes, and range from a New York City borough to a regional association of three counties in Tennessee. An urban planner’s salary is positively associated with larger populations of citizens. Most private companies pay higher salaries to planners, although the number of positions they offer is much smaller than that of public institutions.
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