Urban Planner
🏙️Plans neighbourhoods and cities: where housing, roads, parks and schools go. Analyses data on residents and transport and works with authorities.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $100k a year on average · +3.9% jobs by 2035 · 3,200 openings a year
Urban & regional planners — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £36.8k median a year · 18,000 jobs
Chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultants — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
AI models traffic, development and climate, but only a planner can balance the interests of residents, business and government.
Who it suits
Interests: 🏗️ Building and spaces, 🏛️ History, society, politics, 📐 Maths and data, 🌋 Planet: ocean, climate, geology.
Key strengths: logic, artistic taste, understanding people.
Where to study
- Bachelor's BSc/BA Urban Planning or Geography
- Master's MSc/MA Urban Planning (RTPI-accredited in the UK)
- Course Chartered status: MRTPI (UK), AICP (US)
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Geography, Maths, Economics.
🧗 A degree in urban planning or geography plus a planning master's (RTPI-accredited in the UK), then MRTPI or AICP (US) status. Geography, data analysis and GIS help.
Universities
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- University of Oxford Oxford · €43k–72.2k/yr
IELTS 7.5 (7.0 each); subject test (MAT, PAT, TSA, LNAT, UCAT), interview; apply by 15 Oct; medicine takes ≤14 international students/yr - University of Cambridge Cambridge · €33.4k–81.1k/yr
IELTS 7.5 (7.0 each); subject test (ESAT, TMUA, LNAT, UCAT), interview; apply by 15 Oct; plus college fee £12–14.5k/yr - University College London London
Attestat + UPC or A-levels/IB; IELTS 6.5–7.5 by course level; LNAT/UCAT where required; UCL site not reachable *
🇺🇸 United States
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Urban Studies and Planning) Cambridge, MA · €58k/yr
Course 11 bachelor's, admission to MIT as a whole; SAT/ACT; TOEFL 90 / IELTS 7; need-blind - University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles · €47.7k–49.9k/yr
UC Application; TOEFL 80 (new scale 4.5) / IELTS 6.5 / DET 115; SAT/ACT not considered; film: extra creative application - Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA · €38.8k/yr
out-of-state rate $22.3k per semester (lower division); TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers
🇩🇪 Germany
- TU Dortmund University Dortmund · free
No tuition; German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4); journalism has its own selection * - Humboldt University of Berlin Berlin · free
No tuition; German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4); apply via uni-assist; Russian certificate: via Studienkolleg * - University of Stuttgart Stuttgart · €3k/yr
Non-EU: €1,500 a semester (Baden-Württemberg); German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4); architecture: aptitude test *
🇳🇱 Netherlands
- Utrecht University Utrecht · €13.4k–17.1k/yr
Certificate + usually 1 university year; IELTS ≈ 6.5; veterinary medicine (225 places) and medicine are numerus fixus, apply by 15 January - University of Groningen Groningen
VWO level by file review; IELTS 6.5 (by programme); €100 fee; numerus fixus by 15 January, others by 1 May, non-EU conditions by 1 July - University of Amsterdam Amsterdam · €17.5k/yr
Certificate + usually 1 university year (Diploma finder); IELTS 6.5 (PPLE 7.0); medicine is Dutch-taught, numerus fixus, €34,700
🇫🇷 France
- Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris 1) Paris · €2.9k/yr
DAP, French B2 (law C1); non-EU pay €2,902 in 2026/27 - École d'Urbanisme de Paris Champs-sur-Marne
Master's only (urban planning); first do a bachelor's elsewhere * - Sciences Po Urban School Paris
Master's only (urban studies); first do a bachelor's elsewhere *
🇮🇹 Italy
- Politecnico di Milano (Urban Planning) Milan · €160–3.9k/yr
TOL/architecture test, B2 in the language of study; 12 school years, else a university year or foundation * - Iuav University of Venice Venice
12 school years; Italian B2; architecture/design entrance test * - Politecnico di Torino Turin
TIL test or SAT (not for architecture); English/Italian B2; 12 school years, else first university year or foundation
🇪🇸 Spain
- Autonomous University of Barcelona Bellaterra · €1.8k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE for score; some classes in Catalan; non-EU €30/ECTS * - University of Barcelona Barcelona · €1.8k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE for score; many classes in Catalan; non-EU €30/ECTS * - Complutense University of Madrid Madrid · €6.8k–8.2k/yr
Spanish B2 required (DELE/SIELE/CCEE); homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; non-EU pay 4th-attempt rate
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- Charles University Prague · free
Free in Czech (Czech ≈B2 + exams, ÚJOP course); English programmes €40–30,620/yr - Masaryk University Brno · €0–16k/yr
Free in Czech; English €2,700–7,500/yr (Informatics €4,500), Medicine CZK 380,000; Czech ≈B2 + entrance exams - Czech Technical University in Prague Prague · €0–5.1k/yr
Free in Czech (Czech B2, maths); English-taught CZK 55,000–64,000 per semester
Things to know
🪑 Sitting at a computer all day🎤 Public speaking, being on camera
Similar careers
Not sure what to choose?
A ~100-question quiz builds your interest profile and matches you with careers and universities in Europe, the UK and the US.
Take the quiz →Scales are expert estimates; tuition and admission rules are for 2026/27 from official sources — always check the university website.