How To Become A Regional Planner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a regional planner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Amilcar Challu

Regional planners are essential for the development of land use plans that help optimize land-use activities, settlement growth, infrastructure, and population growth in a given region. Apart from these main functions, their job helps the region target areas for economic development, revitalization, and historic preservation more easily.

The typical daily tasks of a regional planner may involve guiding production planning activities, preparing plans, conducting research, coordinating with other local governments, and communicating with local public officials regarding plans and land use activities. On top of these duties, another major task of a regional planner is to recommend the denial or approval of development proposals, which requires a great deal of expertise-based decision-making.

Most employers require at least a master's degree in regional or urban planning from a program accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board. However, it is possible to acquire this role with a bachelor's degree. Furthermore, a regional planner needs to have outstanding skills in leadership, analysis, verbal communication, and technical writing.

Regional planners earn an average of $61,000 a year. Until 2026, the employment rate for this job is expected to grow an impressive 13 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing jobs in the country as of date.

What general advice would you give to a Regional Planner?

Dr. Amilcar Challu

Associate Professor and Department Chair Graduate Faculty, Bowling Green State University

Keep calm and capitalize on your strengths. The big picture does not change - a college degree sets you in a path of career growth and a fulfilling life. No degree automatically lands you a job. (Those degrees that do are like the "career" path in the Game of Life: you get a paycheck every few squares, but they do not have growth opportunity.) History, and similar majors, align better with more flexible job descriptions that require creativity, communication, and research skills. You may find yourself in unexpected places that have nothing to do with "history", but in which your historian skills set you apart. That's the big picture. The short-term picture - you have needs and you know them better than anyone. Any job that helps you meet those needs is better than none, and keep applying for more rewarding jobs. If you did internships, study abroad, research projects, etc., think about the skills that are applicable to different job descriptions. You can do consulting work, analysis work, etc. Your skills are typically not dependent on a physical location, which positions you well to apply for remote jobs that use your communication skills. Think carefully about the portfolio that you submit in an application. Ask for advice on your CV; maybe that paper you did on an obscure 18th-century German diplomat is a good way of showing your skills and interest inn international relations. Make sure that you have a variety of recommenders who tackle different strengths of yours.

ScoreRegional PlannerUS Average

Salary

5.1

Avg. Salary $65,450

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.1

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.79%

Asian 9.46%

Black or African American 4.79%

Hispanic or Latino 12.59%

Unknown 4.69%

White 67.67%

Gender

female 36.01%

male 63.99%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress Level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

10.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.3

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a regional planner

Explore regional planner education requirements

Most common regional planner degrees

Bachelor's

67.3 %

Master's

19.4 %

Associate

7.4 %

Start to develop specific regional planner skills

Skills	Percentages
Regional Planning	21.08%
Transportation Planning	8.56%
GIS	7.94%
Public Health	7.48%
Environmental Planning	7.28%

Research regional planner duties and responsibilities

Guide production planning activities ranging from developing and revising production schedules, forecasting trends and customer demand, and managing logistics.
Analyze data and create maps using GIS mapping software.
Conduct data analyses as well as created maps using GIS software to show to working relationships.
Direct inbound or outbound logistics operations, such as transportation or warehouse activities, safety performance, or logistics quality management.

Prepare your regional planner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your regional planner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a regional planner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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Apply for regional planner jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a regional planner job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do regional planners rate their job?