Urban & Regional Planning is about average in terms of popularity for bachelor's degrees programs. That is, it ranks #178 out of the 363 majors across the country that we analyze each year. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.
College Factual looked at 3 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 151 bachelor's degrees in urban & regional planning during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Urban & Regional Planning School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of urban & regional planning for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on urban & regional planning students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other urban & regional planning students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt urban & regional planning students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized urban & regional planning related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for urban & regional planning students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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University of Washington - Seattle Campus is a good option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in urban & regional planning. Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the urban planning program state that they receive average early career income of $39,635.
It is difficult to beat California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in urban & regional planning. Located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those urban & regional planning students who get their bachelor's degree from California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo earn $3,356 more than the average urban planning student.
It is hard to beat California State Polytechnic University - Pomona if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in urban & regional planning. Cal Poly Pomona is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Pomona.
Soon after graduating, urban planning bachelor's recipients generally make an average of $45,960 in the first five years of their career.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of urban & regional planning for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
