Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between planning engineers and planners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a planning engineer, becoming a planner takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a planning engineer has an average salary of $82,521, which is higher than the $63,161 average annual salary of a planner.
The top three skills for a planning engineer include project management, infrastructure and transmission planning. The most important skills for a planner are customer service, exceptional client, and logistics.
| Planning Engineer | Planner | |
| Yearly salary | $82,521 | $63,161 |
| Hourly rate | $39.67 | $30.37 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 56,792 | 15,269 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
A planning engineer is in charge of developing plans and systems to organize and schedule project procedures, ensuring efficiency and timeliness. Their responsibilities revolve around learning and understanding the extent of all operations, setting schedules and objectives, liaising with external parties such as vendors or distributors, and maintaining an active communication line with other departments. Furthermore, a planning engineer must monitor the progress of the workflow and the performance of the workforce, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
As the name entails, planners assist in creating a broad vision for a community. They conduct research, design, and advanced programs. Some of them focus on a few roles, such as planning transportation, while some will most likely work at different planning types throughout their profession. They develop a plan through data analysis, determine the project's goals or the community, and form a specific vision. They also identify the strategies to help the city realized its goals and vision.
Planning engineers and planners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Planning Engineer | Planner | |
| Average salary | $82,521 | $63,161 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $110,000 | Between $45,000 And $88,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a planning engineer and a planner in terms of educational background:
| Planning Engineer | Planner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between planning engineers' and planners' demographics:
| Planning Engineer | Planner | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.2% Female, 16.8% | Male, 54.4% Female, 45.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 15.6% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.6% White, 67.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 13% |