Careers
Career Options
A master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning enables graduates to work in a variety of areas. Planners share interests in:
- social justice
- affordable housing
- sustainable cities
- mobility and traffic congestion
- climate and the environment
- community development and
- economic development, to name a few
What distinguishes planners is their ability to work in some or all of these areas—the critical skills, knowledge areas, and values they obtain in a master’s degree program in urban and regional planning, such as ours, permits planners to shift from one area to another as their interests evolve as well as the opportunities shift.
Therefore, the most important thing about the planning degree is the degree itself and less so the specific specialization(s) that a student chooses when they are in graduate school. Nevertheless, the specializations—what we call concentrations—are available to planning students at Iowa and constitute some of the most central career paths in the planning field.
For more on why planners select planning as a profession, the American Planning Association provides a sampling of professional planners telling why they chose the field.
Jobs of Recent Graduates
| Job title | employer |
|---|---|
| PhD Student | University in England |
| Planning Consultant | Community development nonprofit in Arizona |
| Assistant Director | County economic development organization in Iowa |
| Urban Planner | Urban transformation project in home country, funded by the World Bank |
| Brownfields Coordinator | Medium-sized city in Iowa |
| Associate Planner | Small city in Washington |
| Urban Planner | Consulting firm in Nebraska |
| Planner I | City in Kansas |
| Permitting Analyst | Engineering firm in Illinois |
| Environmental Planner | Consulting firm in Iowa |
| Senior Planner | County in Indiana |
| Associate Planner | County in California |
| Urban Planner | Transportation consulting firm in North Carolina |
| Planner II | Consulting firm in Iowa |
| Community Planner | Consulting firm in Iowa |
| Program Manager | Nonprofit in Iowa |
| Assistant Planner | Town in Washington |
| Transportation Planner | Consulting firm in Iowa |
| Community Development Specialist | State department of commerce in the Midwest |
| Planning and Zoning Manager | City in Illinois |
| Assistant Planner | County in Iowa |
| Planner I | County in California |
| Associate Planner | City in Iowa |
| Community Development Specialist | City in Wisconsin |
| Transportation Planner II | Regional planning organization in Kentucky |
| PhD Student | University in Iowa |
| Social Impact Program Coordinator | University in Iowa |
| Assistant Planner | Regional planning organization in Wisconsin |
Career Options by Area of Interest
In the economic development area of concentration students study regional economic growth processes, the changing structure of employment and the relationship between local industrial sectors and national and international economic trends.
This prepares students for positions with:
- city planning and economic development departments
- regional planning agencies
- state economic development agencies
- neighborhood economic development groups
- nonprofit or public/private economic development organizations
The concentration in housing and community development gives students knowledge of affordable housing and community development issues; federal, state, and local housing and community development policies; and innovative public/private/neighborhood partnerships.
Graduates with a concentration in housing and community development are prepared for positions in:
- housing and community development divisions of city, regional, and state planning agencies and departments
- housing-focused nonprofit organizations
- private planning consulting firms and companies that build and develop new housing
- community development corporations
Protecting and preserving environmental values is intimately connected with urban planning. Students in the land use and environmental planning area of concentration generally pursue careers in:
- local, regional, state or federal government agencies such as states’ Departments of Natural Resources, the EPA, FEMA, or the National Park Service
- private consulting firms
- environmental advocacy organizations
Students in the transportation planning concentration learn about transportation and its connection with social equity, accessibility, climate impacts, and the benefits of physically active travel.
Graduates are employed by:
- consulting firms
- state transportation agencies
- regional organizations
- cities
- metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs)
- transportation districts
A certificate in transportation planning can be earned as an additional certification to the master's degree.
Students in the GIS area of concentration learn how to use and apply GIS software to urban planning and various techniques for spatial analysis.
The GIS specialty prepares students for positions with:
- city planning departments
- regional planning agencies
- state development agencies
- neighborhood economic development groups
- other nonprofit or public/private economic development organizations