Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between planning managers and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a planning manager has an average salary of $98,486, which is higher than the $91,578 average annual salary of a project manager.
The top three skills for a planning manager include project management, customer service and strong analytical. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.
| Planning Manager | Project Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $98,486 | $91,578 |
| Hourly rate | $47.35 | $44.03 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 137,190 | 167,116 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.17 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 39 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 10 | - |
Planning managers perform various duties and responsibilities for an organization. These include planning and monitoring a project or department's budget, production schedule, and inventory, creating reports of new plans, programs, and regulations, and ensuring development proposals comply with requirements and regulations. Additionally, planning managers are expected to serve as an intermediary between developers, government entities, businesses, and communities. They also oversee site plans, rezoning, and special-use permits, set schedules for the project, and supervise other personnel such as developers and consultants.
Project managers oversee a specific project related to the organization's business. They manage the whole project from inception to evaluation. They initiate planning with involved departments, follow-through on the plans, ensure smooth execution of the plans, and evaluate the project for further improvements should these be needed. In line with this, project managers also ensure that the project is cost-efficient and well within the budget. They also manage the different work teams involved in the project and ensure that things are running smoothly on this aspect as well.
Planning managers and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Planning Manager | Project Manager | |
| Average salary | $98,486 | $91,578 |
| Salary range | Between $71,000 And $135,000 | Between $64,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | ZS | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a planning manager and a project manager in terms of educational background:
| Planning Manager | Project Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between planning managers' and project managers' demographics:
| Planning Manager | Project Manager | |
| Average age | 39 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 64.1% Female, 35.9% | Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |