2024 Best Urban & Regional Planning Doctor's Degree Schools
When it comes to popularity, a doctor's degree in
urban & regional planning sits in the middle of the road, ranking #124 out of 306 majors in the country. 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.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 22 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Urban & Regional Planning Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 86 doctor's degrees in urban & regional planning during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Urban & Regional Planning School for Your Doctor's Degree
The urban planning doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. 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
The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree 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 doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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 doctor'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 easy is it for urban & regional planning to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized urban & regional planning related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for urban & regional planning students working on their doctor's degree.
One Size Does Not Fit All
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 Doctor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.