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2025 Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

6 Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region
370 Urban Planning Degrees Awarded
$56,992 Avg Early-Career Salary
Urban & Regional Planning isn't the most popular major in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #183 in popularity out of 395 majors in the country. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 6 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for urban & regional planning students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 370 degrees in urban & regional planning to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Urban & Regional Planning School

Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region Your choice of urban & regional planning school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Urban & Regional Planning School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.

You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.

Urban & Regional Planning Rankings by Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Urban Planning
Master's Degrees in Urban Planning
Doctor's Degrees in Urban Planning

The urban planning school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region. If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

If you want to learn more about how we derive our rankings, see College Factual's Methodology.

Best Schools for Urban & Regional Planning in the Middle Atlantic Region

Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the urban planning degree levels they offer.

Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools in Urban Planning

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
46 Urban Planning Degrees Awarded
$72,127 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in urban & regional planning has to take a look at Columbia University in the City of New York. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.

There were approximately 46 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the urban & regional planning program at Columbia University in the City of New York get $15,135 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

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

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
61 Urban Planning Degrees Awarded
3.3% Growth in Graduates

Cornell University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in urban & regional planning. Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.

There were approximately 61 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent data year. After graduating, urban planning degree recipients usually earn around $49,671 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a degree in urban & regional planning from Cornell University

3
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In NJ
4.5% Growth in Graduates

Every student who is interested in urban & regional planning needs to look into Rutgers University - New Brunswick. Rutgers New Brunswick is a very large public university located in the small city of New Brunswick. This university ranks 2nd out of 45 colleges for overall quality in the state of New Jersey.

There were roughly 22 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at Rutgers New Brunswick in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in urban & regional planning from Rutgers University - New Brunswick

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
32 Urban Planning Degrees Awarded
6.3% Growth in Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in urban & regional planning has to take a look at University at Buffalo. Located in the large suburb of Buffalo, University at Buffalo is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 18th out of 136 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.

There were about 32 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at University at Buffalo in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the urban planning program earn about $49,085 for their early career.

More information about a degree in urban & regional planning from University at Buffalo

5
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In NY

Located in the city of Brooklyn, Pratt Institute is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

There were about 18 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at Pratt Institute in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in urban & regional planning from Pratt Institute - Main

6
Temple crest
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In PA

Located in the city of Philadelphia, Temple is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 8th out of 103 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.

There were about 20 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at Temple in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in urban & regional planning from Temple University

Best Urban & Regional Planning Colleges by State

Explore the best urban & regional planning colleges for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic Region .

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Pennsylvania 334 50
New York 333 239
Maryland 279 12
New Jersey 273 27
District of Columbia 188 23

View All Rankings >

One of 8 majors within the Architecture & Related Services area of study, Urban & Regional Planning has other similar majors worth exploring.

Urban Planning Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Urban & Regional Planning, General 370

View All Urban Planning Focus Areas >

Related Major Annual Graduates
Architectural Sciences & Technology 1,967
General Architecture 768
Real Estate Development 308
Landscape Architecture 169
Environmental Design 121
Interior Architecture 92
Architecture (Other) 45
Architectural History 9

View All Urban Planning Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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