2025 Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in the Plains States Region
4Colleges in the Plains States Region
127Urban Planning Degrees Awarded
$56,992Avg Early-Career Salary
When it comes to popularity, urban & regional planning sits in the middle of the road, ranking #183 out of 395 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.
College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 127 degrees in urban & regional planning to qualified students.
The urban planning program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Urban & Regional Planning rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for urban & regional planning schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
The urban planning school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in the Plains States Region.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to 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.
Best Schools for Urban & Regional Planning in the Plains States Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the urban planning degrees they offer, see the list below.
Top Plains States Region Schools in Urban Planning
It's hard to beat Iowa State University if you wish to pursue a degree in urban & regional planning. Iowa State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Ames. A Best Colleges rank of #88 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Iowa State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 40 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at Iowa State in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, urban planning degree recipients generally make an average of $48,172 in their early careers.
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a degree in urban & regional planning. UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the city of Minneapolis. A Best Colleges rank of #45 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UMN Twin Cities is a great university overall.
There were approximately 31 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at UMN Twin Cities in the most recent year we have data available. Those urban & regional planning students who get their degree from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities make $6,952 more than the standard urban planning grad.
It is difficult to beat University of Nebraska - Lincoln if you want to pursue a degree in urban & regional planning. Located in the city of Lincoln, UNL is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 19 colleges for overall quality in the state of Nebraska.
There were approximately 6 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at UNL in the most recent year we have data available.
It is hard to beat University of Kansas if you want to pursue a degree in urban & regional planning. Located in the city of Lawrence, KU is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 44 colleges for overall quality in the state of Kansas.
There were approximately 16 urban & regional planning students who graduated with this degree at KU in the most recent data year.
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).
The urban planning program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Urban & Regional Planning rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for urban & regional planning schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
