Transportation Planners
Life, Physical, and Social Science
The job is to define a local or regional transportation problem, gather the data, and turn them into a study others can use. That means building or reading computer models of traffic and land use, pulling from geographic information systems and related databases, and weighing economic, population, and environmental effects. Recommendations often go to engineers as well as into written reports. Public meetings and hearings are part of explaining a proposal and hearing from people the project would affect. It suits people who like mixing data analysis with clear writing and speaking, and who can work through long-range planning questions with others.
Typical education: Bachelor’s Degree (4-year)
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$101'110
Median Wage Market Position
$101'110
What you might do
- Define transportation problems for a city or region
- Analyze land use, traffic, and long-range needs
- Recommend projects based on growth and traffic forecasts
- Build computer models of transportation planning issues
- Write reports and recommendations on planning proposals
- Explain proposals and gather feedback at public meetings
Skills that matter
- Interpreting traffic and GIS data
- Listening at public planning hearings
- Drafting reports on planning proposals
- Explaining designs to affected communities
- Building computer models of traffic
- Judging projects against traffic projections
AI & the future of this role
Modeling traffic, forecasting demand, and drafting plan documents are tasks algorithms may increasingly handle. Local politics, public hearings, and trade-offs among communities still need human judgment, but the analytical core looks more exposed.
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Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details