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.
College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Urban & Regional Planning Master's Degree Schools in Virginia ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 54 master's degrees in urban & regional planning to qualified students.
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on urban & regional planning students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of urban & regional planning students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt urban & regional planning students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized urban & regional planning related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for urban & regional planning students working on their master's degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Urban & Regional Planning Master's Degree Schools in Virginia list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Urban & Regional Planning in Virginia
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in urban & regional planning.
Top Virginia Schools for a Master's in Urban Planning
It's difficult to beat University of Virginia - Main Campus if you want to pursue a master's degree in urban & regional planning. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the urban planning program earn about $58,018 for their early career.
Virginia Tech is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a master's degree in urban & regional planning. Located in the small city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a very large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the urban planning program earn an average of $61,042 in the first couple years of their career.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
