What are careers in community development?

City planner, historic preservationist, and land use specialist are careers in community development. A degree in community development leads people to understand how social, political, and economic factors contribute to the growth and sustainability of communities. There are many careers that use this knowledge.

How To Become A Community Developer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a community developer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A community developer is an urban planner who is responsible for assessing housing needs and revitalization of projects within a city. They work with city planners in surveying and tracking needs and establish plans for implementation after getting community input. They also supervise projects managers, track project processes, and issue reports to their superiors. Community developers assume full responsibility for all community development department's services, including a comprehensive review of general planning.

Community developers work closely with zonal officers, building inspectors, city planners, and land development managers to efficiently execute their roles. A successful community developer should have considerable knowledge and experience in the field, attention to detail, critical thinking skills, networking skills, and excellent communication skills.

Community developers work full-time 40 hours per week from Monday to Friday between 9 and 5. They may work additional hours and during the weekends to handle emergencies.

ScoreCommunity DeveloperUS Average

Salary

8.3

Avg. Salary $125,954

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.22%

Asian 7.64%

Black or African American 14.65%

Hispanic or Latino 18.22%

Unknown 5.23%

White 52.05%

Gender

female 58.42%

male 41.58%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a community developer

Explore community developer education requirements

Most common community developer degrees

Bachelor's

70.1 %

Master's

15.5 %

Associate

7.5 %

Start to develop specific community developer skills

Skills	Percentages
Community Outreach	16.65%
Public Speaking	12.23%
Fund Raising	10.75%
Economic Development	10.54%
Java	5.95%

Complete relevant community developer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New community developers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a community developer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real community developer resumes.

Research community developer duties and responsibilities

Manage the schools social networking sites including facebook, twitter and MySpace.
Grow and manage existing relationships in assign territories with physicians, hospitals, skil nursing and rehabilitation facilities and assist livings.
Redesign RFP templates, binders, cover pages, etc.
Research and prepare written request for proposals (RFP) packages submit for funding.

Prepare your community developer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your community developer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a community developer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable community developer resume templates

Build a professional community developer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your community developer resume.