Urban and Regional Planners

Minimal Risk
13%

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Vote Comments (9)
AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
0.6%
(Minimal Risk)
POLLING
25%
(Low Risk, Based on 283 votes)
Average: 13%
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
4.3%
by year 2033
WAGES
$81,800
or $39.32 per hour
Volume
42,690
as of 2023
SUMMARY
What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
7.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

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Calculated automation risk

0.6% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): Occupations in this category have a low probability of being automated, as they typically demand complex problem-solving, creativity, strong interpersonal skills, and a high degree of manual dexterity. These jobs often involve intricate hand movements and precise coordination, making it difficult for machines to replicate the required tasks.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Social Perceptiveness

  • Negotiation

  • Originality

  • Persuasion

User poll

25% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 0.6% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Urban and Regional Planners will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

The following graph is shown where there are enough votes to produce meaningful data. It displays user poll results over time, providing a clear indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Urban and Regional Planners' job openings is expected to rise 4.3% by 2033

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Urban and Regional Planners' was 81.800 $, or 39 $ per hour

'Urban and Regional Planners' were paid 70.2% higher than the national median wage, which stood at 48.060 $

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2023 there were 42,690 people employed as 'Urban and Regional Planners' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 3 thousand people are employed as 'Urban and Regional Planners'.

Job description

Develop comprehensive plans and programs for use of land and physical facilities of jurisdictions, such as towns, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas.

SOC Code: 19-3051.00

Comments (9)

Leave a comment
Hilary (Highly likely)
07 Aug 2025 15:44
Much of the work of planning housing developments, communities, cities, neighborhoods, and new business districts will likely be able to be done by automated GIS routines such as classification, network analyst. AI might be BETTER at accounting for things like slope analysis for water shed impact/flood prevention. Humans might be better at the repurposing of historic districts and in-fill development and the aesthetic touch, but that's about it.
CJ (Moderate)
27 Feb 2024 14:07
Increased number of planners using Ai to write reports and research but full automation is unlikely
Anonymous (Uncertain)
23 Oct 2023 09:31
AI starting to take over elements of consenting, apparently
Zeke (No chance)
09 Jun 2023 16:17
Until the digital divide in municipalities is erased, humans will always be needed for Urban & Regional Planning. AI could be utilized to make Planning easier, but it won’t fully dissolve the need for humans as Planners.
Joseph Oladimeji (Low)
31 Oct 2022 05:49
Because it requires human negotiations and social dimensions.
BibirMengkeroet (Uncertain)
13 Sep 2022 12:43
I'm currently a geography student. Yes, I also learn urban planning, and it's scary to realize that anything I've learned could also be done by AI.

For instance, AI could potentially create a better city plan than a human, just by using real-time GIS data. This data could be acquired from CCTVs across the city using object recognition.

However, more detailed surveys are still required, and this job is centralized. People don't build their own cities, except in Cities Skylines. So, I think AI would assist city planners, but not fully replace them, at least not yet.
DW (Moderate)
22 Jun 2022 15:12
Smaller counties are currently way behind the curve on automation.

AI will allow for huge reductions in workload related to paperwork and processes that are slow and redundant. It will also improve inefficient in-person communication.
Josh (No chance)
25 May 2022 03:00
Because there are stakeholders who will try to hold arguments against you in unpredictable ways, they might just smack the robots when they get triggered.

Anything can happen, and mistakes in urban planning using AI can be incredibly devastating. This can be likened to a highway construction fiasco with pseudoscience calculations and appeals to popularity or authority.

Reality can be very messy when AI can meet up, made even worse by human errors.
Ryan (No chance)
03 Dec 2021 17:00
Required knowledge, critical thinking, and abstract thought, as well as the ability to communicate personally with individuals.
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