Urban and Regional Planners in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,711
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$23,689
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,851
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$102,400
Kept after tax
$78,711
Worth in national money
$77,851
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is one of the better-paying states for urban and regional planners. The middle earner takes $102,400, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 14.64% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Arizona reports, urban and regional planners comes in at 53 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $102,400 the take-home is $78,711, which is worth about $77,851 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $98,940, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Arizona ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for urban and regional planners, at $102,400 — about 14.64% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Urban and regional planners ranks 53 of 491 occupations by median in Arizona, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for urban and regional planners on its $102,400 median: $78,711 retained after tax becomes $77,851 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $98,940 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,660 |
| This salary | $102,400 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $78,711 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,868 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,369 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $99,333 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,416 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $102,400 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $62,670 and the ninetieth is $127,660 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $78,711, worked from $102,400. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 53 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $77,851 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 53.
- The Arizona median of $102,400 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $62,670 to $127,660. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Arizona take-home of $78,711, on $102,400 for work ranking 53 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 53 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $77,851, worked from $102,400, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Arizona address, on work sitting at 53 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $98,940 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $62,670 and the top tenth $127,660, so most people doing this work in Arizona sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Arizona run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $77,851 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $78,711 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arizona is $98,940. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($62,670 to $127,660) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $77,851 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $78,711 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.