Jobs / Science and research / 19-3051.00
Urban and Regional Planners
Develop comprehensive plans and programs for use of land and physical facilities of jurisdictions, such as towns, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas.
- US jobs
- 44,230
- Median wage
- $89,320 a year
- Job family
- Science and research
Can agents do the work of urban and regional planners?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Science and research:
- Task levelPartialThin evidence. CORE-Bench asks agents to reproduce the results of published papers in computer science, social science, and medicine from the authors' code and data. Princeton's HAL team declared it solved in December 2025: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.5 scored 95.5% after manual regrading. No benchmark in our collection tests new experiments or lab work.
- Project levelNot yetThin evidence. On PaperBench, where agents replicate machine learning papers from scratch, the best official result is 26.0% (o1, April 2025). On a small subset, ML PhDs scored 41.4% against o1's 26.6%. No newer official results exist, and no benchmark tests research projects in other sciences.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025Solved
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Design, promote, or administer government plans or policies affecting land use, zoning, public utilities, community facilities, housing, or transportation.
- Advise planning officials on project feasibility, cost-effectiveness, regulatory conformance, or possible alternatives.
- Create, prepare, or requisition graphic or narrative reports on land use data, including land area maps overlaid with geographic variables, such as population density.
- Hold public meetings with government officials, social scientists, lawyers, developers, the public, or special interest groups to formulate, develop, or address issues regarding land use or community plans.
- Mediate community disputes or assist in developing alternative plans or recommendations for programs or projects.
- Recommend approval, denial, or conditional approval of proposals.
- Conduct field investigations, surveys, impact studies, or other research to compile and analyze data on economic, social, regulatory, or physical factors affecting land use.
- Evaluate proposals for infrastructure projects or other development for environmental impact or sustainability.
- Discuss with planning officials the purpose of land use projects, such as transportation, conservation, residential, commercial, industrial, or community use.
- Keep informed about economic or legal issues involved in zoning codes, building codes, or environmental regulations.
- Assess the feasibility of land use proposals and identify necessary changes.
- Determine the effects of regulatory limitations on land use projects.
Other job titles for this occupation (35)
City Planner · Community Development Planner · Community Planner · Development Technician · Housing Development Specialist · Neighborhood Planner · Planner · Planning Consultant · Planning Technician · Regional Planner · Campus Planner · City Designer · City Planning Engineer · Community Development Technician · Community Planning Technician · Developer Advocate · Economic Developer · Economic Development Coordinator · Housing Grant Analyst · Housing Liaison · Land Use Planner · Occupancy Planner · Planning Official · Planning Specialist · Program Services Planner · Regional Economic Liaison · Regional Facilities Specialist · Regional Liaison · Regional Transfer Liaison · Sustainable Communities Designer · Sustainable Development Policy Analyst · Town Planner · Traffic Expert · Urban Designer · Urban Planner