Urban and Regional Planner

04.03 City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning · SOC 19-3051

⚠⚠ The planning degree is a master's: all five PAB-accredited programmes in Florida are master's, and they award about 104 a year against 13 planning bachelor's (FAU only). So the undergraduate major is a choice, and this page compares the routes. ⚠ Florida law requires every county and city to maintain a comprehensive plan and review it every seven years, which is why 74% of planners work for local government. Median pay $89,320 nationally, $80,720 in Florida.

Licensure and accreditation

⚠ FLORIDA DOES NOT LICENSE PLANNERS — BLS names New Jersey as the only state that does. ⚠⚠ What matters is (1) a master's from a PAB-accredited programme — in Florida, UF, FSU, UCF, USF or FAU — and (2) the AICP certification from the American Planning Association, which combines education, years of professional planning experience (the number depends on the degree held) and an exam that may be taken before the experience is complete. ⚠ O*NET's respondents split 56% master's, 40% bachelor's: a bachelor's with GIS skills can get an entry-level planning post, and the master's can follow.

⚠⚠⚠ The planning degree is a master’s — the undergraduate major is a choice

	Urban and regional planners (19-3051)
Entry-level education (BLS)	⚠⚠ Master’s degree
What O*NET’s respondents say	56% say a master’s is required; ⚠ 40% say a bachelor’s
Median, 2025	$89,320
Jobs	45,800
Outlook 2025–35	+4% (+1,800)
Openings a year	about 3,200
⚠⚠ Employer	local government, 74%

⚠⚠⚠ Florida awards 104 planning master’s degrees a year and 13 planning bachelor’s — the bachelor’s at FAU alone. So for almost everyone the route is an undergraduate degree in something else, then a master’s in planning. That makes the undergraduate major a real decision, and the section below is about it.

⚠ The 40% matters too. Some entry-level posts — planning technician, “Planner I” — are open to a bachelor’s, especially with GIS skills. That is a way in, and the master’s can follow; ask a prospective employer whether it supports part-time graduate study.

⚠⚠⚠ Why Florida employs planners: the law requires a plan

Florida statute obliges every local government to plan. Section 163.3167: “Each local government shall maintain a comprehensive plan of the type and in the manner set out in this part.” And s. 163.3191: “At least once every 7 years, each local government shall evaluate its comprehensive plan to determine if plan amendments are necessary.” ⚠ A local government that misses the deadline “may not initiate or adopt any publicly initiated plan amendments” until it complies.

⚠⚠ So Florida’s 67 counties and more than 400 municipalities each carry a standing legal duty that is planners’ work — the comprehensive plan, its amendments, the zoning and land-development code that implements it, and the evaluation every seven years. That is why three in four planners work for local government, and why the job follows population growth.

⚠⚠ Florida’s five accredited programmes, all master’s

Institution	Degree (PAB-accredited)	Accredited through	Master’s awarded, 2023
University of Florida	Master of Urban and Regional Planning (campus and online)	⚠ 31 Dec 2026	41
Florida State University	Master of Science in Planning	31 Dec 2029	29
University of Central Florida	M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning	31 Dec 2032	12
University of South Florida	Master of Urban and Regional Planning	31 Dec 2032	12
Florida Atlantic University	Master of Urban and Regional Planning	31 Dec 2030	10

⚠⚠ PAB accreditation is the mark to look for, and every accredited Florida programme is a master’s. FAU’s undergraduate planning degree is not on the PAB list. ⚠ UF’s listed term ends on 31 December 2026, so check the current status on the PAB site before applying there.

⚠⚠⚠ Choosing the undergraduate major

BLS says students “may benefit from undergraduate backgrounds in architecture, social science, business, or a related field,” and that accredited programmes teach “planning theory, land use law, and GIS for planning.” ⚠ No body we could find publishes the undergraduate majors of people entering planning master’s programmes — nothing like the law-school applicant data on the Lawyer page — so this section says what each route brings rather than which one wins.

Undergraduate route	Florida public output	What it brings to planning
Public administration (44.04)	large — UCF, FIU, FAU, Indian River, St. Petersburg and others at bachelor’s	⚠⚠ how local government actually works: budgets, boards, public process. Closest to the employer
Geography (45.07)	FSU, USF, UF, FIU	⚠⚠ GIS — the technical skill BLS names among the core of accredited planning curricula
Sustainability studies (30.33)	UF 107, FIU 60, USF 13	environmental systems, resilience, climate adaptation
Architecture (04.02)	see the Architecture programme	design, site planning and urban design — the physical half of the job
Economics, political science, business	widely taught	land markets, development finance, the politics of a zoning vote
Urban and regional planning, bachelor’s (04.0301)	⚠ FAU only, 13 a year	the subject itself, early — not PAB-accredited

⚠⚠ Whatever the major, take four things, because they recur in BLS’s account of the work and in every accredited curriculum: GIS, statistics, state and local government, and writing — a planner’s product is the staff report a council votes on.

⚠ What Florida pays

Percentile	Florida	United States	Difference
10th	$52,930	$60,010	−$7,080
25th	$64,520	$72,020	−$7,500
Median	$80,720	$89,320	−$8,600
75th	$102,240	$110,030	−$7,790
90th	$129,350	$134,490	−$5,140

⚠ An even discount of $5,000–$9,000 at every percentile. That differs from teachers, police officers and firefighters, where Florida pays above the national floor and well below the national ceiling. Planners are mostly local-government employees too, but their Florida pay is simply lower across the range. ⚠ Ask any employer for its pay schedule at step 1 and at the top of the grade, as with any public job.

Licensing and certification

⚠ Florida does not license planners. BLS: most states do not; New Jersey is the exception. ⚠ The professional credential is the AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners), which combines a degree, years of professional planning experience (the number depends on the degree held) and an exam. APA: “Members may take the AICP exam while completing their planning experience.”

⚠ What the Florida programmes are teaching now

⚠⚠ Resilience. URP6439 Disaster Resilient Community at FAU and USF. In a hurricane state, post-disaster redevelopment and hazard mitigation are routine planning work.
⚠ AI, by name. URP6277 at FAU and UF is titled Urban Design: 3D and AI Applications — the only course on this path with AI in its title. BLS does not mention AI in the outlook for planners.
Transportation. URP6711 Multimodal Transportation Planning is the most widely carried planning course in the state, at four of the five accredited programmes.

⚠ Read the carrier’s title, not the statewide one. Several graduate URP records in the statewide file are decades old and the universities have renamed the courses: URP?125 is Plan Implementation statewide and Land Use Law at FSU and USF; URP?312 is Local Land Use Planning statewide and Growth Management and Comprehensive Planning at FSU and FGCU.

Where people come from

There is no single required programme for this path. These are the fields students actually arrive from — each is a place in the catalog you can browse.

44.04Public Administration

⚠⚠ Public Administration — the closest undergraduate route to the employer, since 74% of planners work for local government (BLS). Taught at bachelor's level at UCF, FIU, FAU, Indian River and St. Petersburg among others.

45.07Geography and Cartography

⚠⚠ Geography — BLS names social science as a feeder, and geography supplies GIS, which BLS lists as core to accredited planning programmes. Bachelor's at FSU, USF, UF and FIU.

04.02Architecture

⚠ Architecture — named by BLS as a feeder background, and the source of urban design and site-planning skills.

52.02Business Administration, Management and Operations

⚠ Business Administration — named by BLS as a feeder background: development finance, budgets and economic development are business skills.

Programs that lead here

A program is a field of study, one level above a degree — each page says which degrees it covers and which Florida institutions award them. ⚠ The count is institutions that awarded a credential in the field in 2023; it is not a promise that a school runs this exact degree, and it counts something different from the course-based list further down.

Urban and Regional Planning 5 Florida schools

The programme — at master's level everywhere it is accredited in Florida. Read its note for the five programmes and their accreditation terms.

Related, but not a route in

Programs worth knowing about if you are considering this career — ⚠ they do not lead to it. Each row says what it is and is not.

Architecture and Landscape Architecture 15 Florida schools

⚠ A feeder BLS names. It suits someone drawn to urban design and the physical form of places.

Environmental Science and Studies 19 Florida schools

⚠ A feeder for resilience, conservation and coastal planning, which Florida comprehensive plans require.

Civil Engineering 9 Florida schools

⚠ The planner's colleague on transportation and infrastructure, not a route into planning itself.

Real Estate 8 Florida schools

⚠ The development side of the same decisions: a planner working for a developer navigates the plan from outside.

Careers similar to this one

Careers filed under the same broad field in the federal classification (ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED SERVICES) — often they share early coursework, and each row says which group it is filed in. ⚠ Worth reading BEFORE you commit: switching between neighbours is cheap early and expensive late.

Architect and Landscape Architect Architecture

Architects design buildings and take legal responsibility for them. ⚠⚠⚠ The fact that governs everything else: Florida licenses architects BY STATUTE on a degree from an NAAB-accredited programme, and only five Florida public institutions hold one — FAMU, FAU, FIU, UF and USF. ⚠⚠ UCF is the state's second-largest producer of architecture bachelor's and is NOT on that list, because its degree is the middle third of a deliberate 2+2+2 with Valencia and UF. This page covers three roles in one family and the three different entry levels they take.

See every career in ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED SERVICES →

Courses along this path

Selected, not exhaustive — the courses specific to this path plus the foundations it is built on. A course number does not identify a course in Florida: always check your own institution's catalog and take a syllabus to an adviser.

POS2112 —State and Local Government Guide

State and Local Government — twenty carriers. ⚠⚠ Three in four planners work for local government, and this is the course about how counties, cities, commissions and boards actually decide.

ECO2023 —Principles of Microeconomics Guide

Microeconomics — thirty-nine carriers. ⚠ Land markets, housing affordability and development feasibility are microeconomics, and planning master's programmes assume it.

STA2023 —Elementary Statistics Guide

Elementary Statistics — thirty-nine carriers. ⚠ Population projections, travel surveys and census data are the raw material of a comprehensive plan.

GIS2040 —Introduction to Geographic Information Systems Request a guide

Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems — ten carriers. ⚠⚠ GIS is named by BLS among the core of accredited planning programmes, and it is the skill most likely to open an entry-level planning post to a bachelor's graduate.

⚠ ⚠ The universities teach the principles course as GIS3043 (UF, UNF, College of the Florida Keys) or GIS4043 with GIS4043L (FSU, UWF). GIS3043 and GIS4043 are the same statewide course with a different level digit; GIS2040 is a different, lower-division course.

GEO3602 —Urban Geography Request a guide

Urban Geography — FIU, UF and USF. The spatial organisation of cities, their history and economics, and current urban problems. ⚠ The closest undergraduate course to the substance of planning outside a planning department.

⚠ ⚠ FAMU, FAU and FSU carry the same statewide course as GEO4602; the level digit is the institution's choice.

URP3000 —Introduction to Urban Planning and Design Request a guide

Introduction to Urban Planning and Design — FAU and FSU. The survey of the field: communities and regions, planning history, planning systems and methods. ⚠ The one undergraduate planning course worth taking before applying to a master's, to find out whether you like it.

PAD3003 —Introduction to Public Administration Guide

Public Administration — ten carriers. ⚠ Budgets, boards, public records and public process: the machinery a planning department works inside.

URP4710 —Introduction to Transportation Planning Request a guide

Introduction to Transportation Planning — FAU and FSU. Funding, legislation and methods. ⚠ Transportation is a major planning specialism, and Florida's metropolitan planning organisations are built around it.

URP4741 —Housing Policy and Planning Request a guide

Housing Policy and Planning — FAU and FSU. Housing markets, the history of housing policy, and community development. ⚠ Housing affordability is a recurring subject of Florida comprehensive-plan amendments and commission votes.

URP6100 —Planning Theory and History Request a guide

Planning Theory and History — UF and USF. BLS names planning theory among the core of accredited programmes: what planning is for, and the political setting of comprehensive planning.

URP5125 —Land Use Law Request a guide

Land Use Law — FSU and USF. Zoning, subdivision regulation, takings and due process. ⚠⚠ The law course is what separates a planner from a GIS analyst, and BLS names land use law as core to accredited programmes.

⚠ ⚠ FAU and UF teach the subject as URP6131 Legal Aspects of Planning. ⚠ The statewide record for URP?125 is titled Plan Implementation; read the carrier's title.

URP5312 —Growth Mgmt & COMP. Planning Request a guide

Growth Management and Comprehensive Planning — FGCU and FSU. ⚠⚠⚠ The Florida-specific course: the comprehensive plan every local government must maintain under s. 163.3167, and its seven-year evaluation under s. 163.3191.

⚠ ⚠ The statewide record for URP?312 is titled Local Land Use Planning; FSU and FGCU both teach it as growth management.

URP6270 —Introduction to GIS in Planning Request a guide

Introduction to GIS in Planning — FAU and UF. GIS applied to land-use analysis, suitability mapping and plan making. ⚠ BLS names GIS for planning as core to accredited programmes.

URP6711 —Multimodal Transportation Planning Request a guide

Multimodal Transportation Planning — FAU, UCF, UF and USF, four of the five accredited programmes. ⚠ The most widely carried planning course in the state.

URP6439 —Disaster Resilient Community Request a guide

Disaster Resilient Community — FAU and USF. ⚠⚠ Hazard mitigation and post-disaster redevelopment: in a hurricane state, routine planning work rather than a specialism.

URP6743 —Planning for Affordable Housing Request a guide

Planning for Affordable Housing — UF and USF. Finance tools, inclusionary policy and the regulatory barriers to supply.

URP6277 —Urban Design: 3D and AI Applications Request a guide

Urban Design: 3D and AI Applications — FAU and UF. ⚠ The only course on this path with AI in its title: 3D modelling and AI tools applied to urban design.

URP6920 —Planning Workshop Request a guide

Planning Workshop — FAU and UF. ⚠⚠ A studio project, typically for a real client such as a local government or community group. It gives a planning graduate something concrete to show an employer.

Where you can take these courses in Florida

39 Florida public institutions teach courses on this path. The count is how many of the 18 listed courses each one carries — it shows where the path is best covered. It is not a statement that a school offers this as a degree; for that, check the institution’s own programme list.

FAU

Florida Atlantic University

11 of 18

University of Florida

11 of 18

USF

University of South Florida

9 of 18

FSU

Florida State University

8 of 18

FIU

Florida International University

6 of 18

College of Central Florida

4 of 18

EFSC

Eastern Florida State College

4 of 18

FAMU

Florida A & M University

4 of 18

FSCJ

Florida State College at Jacksonville

4 of 18

GCSC

Gulf Coast State College

4 of 18

Hillsborough College

4 of 18

PHSC

Pasco-Hernando State College

4 of 18

SPC

St. Petersburg College

4 of 18

UCF

University of Central Florida

4 of 18

Valencia College

4 of 18

Broward College

3 of 18

DSC

Daytona State College

3 of 18

FGC

Florida Gateway College

3 of 18

FGCU

Florida Gulf Coast University

3 of 18

FSWSC

Florida Southwestern State College

3 of 18

IRSC

Indian River State College

3 of 18

MDC

Miami Dade College

3 of 18

NFC

North Florida College

3 of 18

PBSC

Palm Beach State College

3 of 18

PESC

Pensacola State College

3 of 18

SFC

Santa FE College

3 of 18

SSCF

Seminole State College of Florida

3 of 18

TSC

Tallahassee State College

3 of 18

UWF

University of West Florida

3 of 18

FLPOLY

Florida Polytechnic University

2 of 18

LSSC

Lake-Sumter State College

2 of 18

NCF

New College of Florida

2 of 18

NWFSC

Northwest Florida State College

2 of 18

PSC

Polk State College

2 of 18

SFSC

South Florida State College

2 of 18

SJRSC

St. Johns River State College

2 of 18

SCFMS

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota

2 of 18

CFK

The College of the Florida Keys

2 of 18

UNF

University of North Florida

2 of 18

Sources

Requirements change. These are the authorities that decide them — check them directly before committing to a route.

BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Urban and Regional Planners — $89,320 median (2025), 45,800 jobs, +4% for 2025–35 and about 3,200 openings a year; entry-level education master's degree; 74% in local government; undergraduate backgrounds in architecture, social science or business; licensure only in New Jersey.
O*NET — Urban and Regional Planners (19-3051.00) — Job Zone Five; 56% of respondents say a master's is required and 40% a bachelor's; average growth (3% to 4%) for 2024–34.
O*NET — Florida wages for 19-3051.00 — Florida median $80,720 against $89,320 national, and $5,000–$9,000 below national at every percentile.
Planning Accreditation Board — accredited programmes — Five Florida programmes, all master's: FAU (through 2030), FSU (2029), UCF (2032), UF (2026) and USF (2032).
s. 163.3167, Florida Statutes — comprehensive plans — "Each local government shall maintain a comprehensive plan of the type and in the manner set out in this part."
s. 163.3191, Florida Statutes — evaluation and appraisal — Each local government must evaluate its comprehensive plan at least once every 7 years; one that fails to may not initiate or adopt publicly initiated plan amendments until it complies.
American Planning Association — AICP certification — AICP combines education, professional planning experience and an exam; "members may take the AICP exam while completing their planning experience."
IPEDS completions — Florida, CIP 04.03 and neighbouring fields — 04.0301: 104 master's (UF 41, FSU 29, UCF 12, USF 12, FAU 10), 13 bachelor's at FAU and 12 UF postbaccalaureate certificates. Also the feeder fields: public administration (44.04), geography (45.07) and sustainability studies (30.33).
SCNS statewide course file — URP, GIS and GEO — Carrier counts for every course named; statewide titles for URP?125 (Plan Implementation) and URP?312 (Local Land Use Planning) that the carriers have renamed; GIS?043 and GEO?602 carried at two level digits.

Last updated 23 September 2026.