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Best Value Urban & Regional Planning Schools in California

2023 Best Value Urban & Regional Planning Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

7 Colleges
$19,292 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$57,366 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Urban & Regional Planning School for You

Urban & Regional Planning is the #144 most popular major in California with 393 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Urban & Regional Planning Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 7 schools in California to see which programs offered the best value experiences for urban planning students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality in Urban & Regional Planning

$7,439 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found California State Polytechnic University - Pomona to be the best value school for urban and regional planning students who want to pursue a degree in California. Located in the large suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public school with a very large student population.

Cal Poly Pomona undergraduate students pay an average of $7,439 in in-state tuition and fees each year. The average amount in student loans that urban planning majors at Cal Poly Pomona take out is $17,250.

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$10,195 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo is a great value for urban and regional planning students. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a very large public school located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are $10,195 per year. After completing their degree, urban planning graduates from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo carry an average student debtload of $15,269.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in California list.

Read full report on Urban & Regional Planning at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

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$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at University of California - Berkeley helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best urban and regional planning schools in California. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Berkeley.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,226 per year.

UC Berkeley not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in California list.

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$13,258 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at University of California - Los Angeles helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best urban and regional planning schools in California. UCLA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCLA are $13,258 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UCLA also is in the top 10% of our Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in California ranking.

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$14,645 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at University of California - Davis helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best urban and regional planning schools in California. UC Davis is a very large public school located in the small suburb of Davis.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Davis are $14,645 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, UC Davis also did well on our Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in California list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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$13,775 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Irvine did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for urban and regional planning students. It came in at #6 on the list. UC Irvine is a fairly large public school located in the city of Irvine.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Irvine are $13,775 a year.

Full Urban & Regional Planning at University of California - Irvine Report

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$61,503 Average Tuition & Fees

University of Southern California landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value urban and regional planning programs. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at USC are $61,503 per year. While working on their degree, urban planning majors at USC accumulate an average of around $16,250 in student debt.

In addition to its great value ranking, USC is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Urban & Regional Planning Schools in California list.

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Best Value Urban & Regional Planning Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Urban & Regional Planning Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 117
Oregon 49
Hawaii 12

Urban & Regional Planning is one of 8 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Architectural Sciences & Technology 6,781
General Architecture 4,982
Landscape Architecture 905
Environmental Design 741
Interior Architecture 728

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 7 schools only.

  • 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Arcaddmarketing.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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