Urban and Regional Planners in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,166
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$20,864
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,682
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$86,030
Kept after tax
$65,166
Worth in national money
$64,682
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for urban and regional planners. The middle earner takes $86,030, which ranks 17 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 3.68% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Virginia. It ranks 110 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $86,030 the take-home is $65,166, which is worth about $64,682 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $93,700, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia ranks 17 of 51 states publishing a median for urban and regional planners, at $86,030 — about 3.68% 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.
- Within Virginia, urban and regional planners ranks 110 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for urban and regional planners on its $86,030 median: $65,166 retained after tax becomes $64,682 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $93,700 sits above the median, the right skew typical of 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 | $61,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $133,520 |
| This salary | $86,030 |
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 Virginia | $65,166 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,352 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,687 |
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 | $80,080 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,236 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of urban and regional planners in Virginia earn under $86,030 and half over. The published range runs $61,790 at the tenth percentile to $133,520 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $65,166, from $86,030, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 110 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $64,682 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 110.
- Figures are distribution medians for urban and regional planners in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $61,790 to $133,520; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $65,166 from $86,030. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 110 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $64,682, worked from $86,030, 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 Virginia address, on work sitting at 110 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $93,700, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $61,790, the highest tenth $133,520, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $64,682 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $65,166.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Virginia is $93,700. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($61,790) and the ninetieth ($133,520) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $64,682 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 $65,166 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.