Urban Planner salary
What an urban planner actually earns, from 91 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-09-06.
Switch the market above to see urban planner pay in the 2 countries our sources cover, each with its own cost of living. The trend, seniority, and state detail below are United States data, where the official record runs deepest.
What the number means
An urban planner earns a blended US median near 92,192 dollars, with the typical middle running from 76,446 dollars to 115,532 dollars. The official OEWS median is 83,720 dollars, under the posted figure, because the advertised roles skew senior or well-funded. The official trend has moved up about 13 percent since 2019. Demand is rated moderate, and 2% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is landscape architect, at 68 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open urban planner roles
Live openings tagged to this occupation, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.
SUPERVISORY COMMUNITY PLANNER (INTERDISCIPLINARY) at U.S. Marine CorpsTwentynine Palms, California$124k–$161k2d agoApply- Media Planning Consultant (m/w/d) at JobupKüsnacht, Zürich, Switzerland3d agoApply
Urban Planner (PH based, Mid Shift, Full time, Remote) at Cosy HauzPhilippines · Remote5d agoApply
Architectural Urban Designer at New York TimesNew York, NY6d agoApply- INTERDISCIPLINARY COMMUNITY PLANNER/GENERAL ENGINEER/ARCHITECT at Naval Facilities Engineering Systems CommandNaval Base, Norfolk, Virginia$108k–$140k6d agoApply
COMMUNITY PLANNER at Air Mobility CommandFairchild AFB, Washington$90k–$117k6d agoApply
By country
- United States$76,446$92,192$115,532
- United Kingdom$54,575$64,856$75,040
Switzerland · official wage bands
median CHF 8'730/month
Swiss postings do not state pay, so these are not posted salaries: they are the federal wage survey (Lohnstrukturerhebung 2024) for the ISCO group 21 Naturwissenschaftler, Mathematiker und Ingenieure: standardized gross monthly, full-time, 13th salary included pro rata. The band covers the whole occupation group, which is coarser than this occupation alone.
Annual ≈ CHF 104'760 at the median. Source: Bundesamt für Statistik, LSE 2024.
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- California$105,230
- Washington$98,190
- Colorado$96,810
- New York$94,740
- Maryland$86,800
- Virginia$81,750
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness an urban planner profile already covers.
- 424 open management consultant roles$121,564 median · +$29,372 · 12% readiness
- 4 open computational designer roles$110,797 median · +$18,605 · 20% readiness
- 75 open environmental engineer roles$108,611 median · +$16,419 · 25% readiness
- 393 open structural engineer roles$105,915 median · +$13,723 · 19% readiness
Every measured move out of this role, ranked by readiness: alternative careers for an urban planner.
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Landscape Architect salary$93,012 median
- Architect salary$99,684 median
- Management Consultant salary$121,564 median
Quick answers
How much does an urban planner make?
The blended US median is about 92,192 dollars, with a typical range from 76,446 dollars to 115,532 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 83,720 dollars.
Is urban planner a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated moderate in our July 2026 corpus, with 2% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can an urban planner move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is landscape architect, at 68 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 19-3051. Live corpus 91 observations, 2026-09-06. Definitions in the glossary.