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

What is a community development planner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Nancy Fischer

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a community development planner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.75 an hour? That's $57,723 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 1,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a community development planner?

Nancy Fischer

Professor of Sociology, Augsburg University

I imagine that the skills that will become important over the next 3-5 years are probably both new and old skills. New skills in the sense that urban planners and those who work with urban-oriented non-profits are trying to figure out whether there are ways Artificial Intelligence can make their work lives better in terms of helping with repetitive, less engaging aspects of the job that are rather formulaic. Second, in Urban Studies it's also really important to be able to communicate data-driven and complex arguments to lay people. So, studying things like data visualization could be helpful. But in terms of skills that always pay off, I hear from our alumni that cultivating excellent social skills and storytelling are really important - to be able to tell a story around why a change (or no change) is needed in the urban realm and communicate that to people whether political leaders or the general public compellingly can take you a long way.

ScoreCommunity Development PlannerUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,723

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.79%

Asian 9.34%

Black or African American 4.70%

Hispanic or Latino 12.44%

Unknown 4.70%

White 68.04%

Gender

female 45.08%

male 54.92%

Age - 42

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 - 42

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a community development planner

Explore community development planner education requirements

Most common community development planner degrees

Bachelor's

71.7 %

Master's

18.3 %

Associate

8.2 %

Start to develop specific community development planner skills

Skills	Percentages
Regional Planning	20.53%
GIS	14.50%
Technical Assistance	9.46%
Site Development	8.15%
CDBG	5.77%

Research community development planner duties and responsibilities

Guide production planning activities ranging from developing and revising production schedules, forecasting trends and customer demand, and managing logistics.
Monitor CDBG fund economic development programs.
Used GIS to identify complete, fund, and propose routes.
Conduct research and create zoning database and GIS layers for regional analysis.

Prepare your community development planner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your community development planner 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 development planner 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 development planner resume templates

Build a professional community development planner 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 development planner resume.

Apply for community development planner jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a community development planner job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average community development planner salary

The average community development planner salary in the United States is $57,723 per year or $28 per hour. Community development planner salaries range between $31,000 and $104,000 per year.

Average community development planner salary

$57,723 Yearly

$27.75 hourly

What is a community development planner and how to become one

What general advice would you give to a community development planner?

Community development planner career paths

Key steps to become a community development planner

Explore community development planner education requirements

Most common community development planner degrees

Start to develop specific community development planner skills

Research community development planner duties and responsibilities

Prepare your community development planner resume

Choose from 10+ customizable community development planner resume templates

Apply for community development planner jobs

How did you land your first community development planner job

Average community development planner salary

How do community development planners rate their job?