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2025 Best Urban & Regional Planning Master's Degree Schools

34 Colleges in the United States
1,266 Master's Degrees
$63,447 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on getting your master's degree in urban & regional planning, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #92 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 34 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for urban & regional planning students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,266 master's degrees in urban & regional planning during the 2021-2022 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Urban & Regional Planning School for Your Master's Degree

Best Urban & Regional Planning Master's Degree Schools Your choice of urban & regional planning for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality urban planning program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for urban & regional planning students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Urban & Regional Planning Schools

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More Urban Planning Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Urban & Regional Planning Master's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Urban & Regional Planning in the United States

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in urban & regional planning.

10 Top Schools for a Master's in Urban Planning

1

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in urban & regional planning has to take a look at University of Southern California. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the urban planning program earn about $63,583 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from University of Southern California

2

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in urban & regional planning. UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Master's recipients from the urban & regional planning degree program at University of California - Los Angeles make $5,910 more than the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from University of California - Los Angeles

3

It's difficult to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you want to pursue a master's degree in urban & regional planning. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.

Master's recipients from the urban & regional planning major at Columbia University in the City of New York make $8,680 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from Columbia University in the City of New York

4

University of Washington - Seattle Campus is a good choice for students interested in a master's degree in urban & regional planning. UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the city of Seattle.

Master's recipients from the urban & regional planning major at University of Washington - Seattle Campus earn $4,119 more than the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

5

University of Virginia is a fairly large public university located in the midsize suburb of Charlottesville.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the urban planning program make around $58,018 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from University of Virginia - Main Campus

6

UT Austin is a very large public university located in the large city of Austin.

Students who graduate with their master's from the urban planning program report average early career income of $64,191.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from The University of Texas at Austin

7
23 Annual Graduates

Texas A&M College Station is a very large public university located in the city of College Station.More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from Texas A&M University - College Station

8
UF crest
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL

UF is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville.

Master's recipients from the urban & regional planning program at University of Florida earn $6,055 above the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from University of Florida

9

Georgia Tech is a very large public school located in the large city of Atlanta.

Urban & Regional Planning master's degree recipients from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of about $4,525 above the typical income of urban & regional planning majors.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

10

Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the urban planning program state that they receive average early career earnings of $53,108.

More information about a master’s in urban & regional planning from Ohio State University - Main Campus

Urban & Regional Planning by Region

View the Best Urban & Regional Planning Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Urban & Regional Planning is one of 8 different types of Architecture & Related Services programs to choose from.

Urban Planning Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Urban & Regional Planning, General 1,266

Related Major Annual Graduates
Architectural Sciences & Technology 3,698
General Architecture 808
Real Estate Development 447
Landscape Architecture 292
Interior Architecture 130
Architecture (Other) 51
Environmental Design 40
Architectural History 35

Notes and References

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