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The differences between transportation planners and transportation engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a transportation planner has an average salary of $68,983, which is higher than the $68,945 average annual salary of a transportation engineer.
The top three skills for a transportation planner include customer service, GIS and project management. The most important skills for a transportation engineer are autocad, cost estimates, and project management.
| Transportation Planner | Transportation Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $68,983 | $68,945 |
| Hourly rate | $33.16 | $33.15 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 7% |
| Number of jobs | 21,425 | 20,388 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 2 | - |
A transportation planner takes responsibility for developing transportation strategies encompassing transportation needs. Transportation planners work along with government agencies for the selection and development of plans organizing mass transit. They communicate through social media in written, visual, or oral forms. It is part of their duty to design leaflets and questionnaires to communicate and receive feedback from the public. They also take part in meetings more often for note-taking, scheduling, and attendance. They need to be well-versed in algebra, geometry, calculus, and arithmetic.
Transportation engineers are also known as civil engineers who are responsible for planning, designing, and operating roadway construction and maintenance and modifications of existing streets, highways, or freeways to improve traffic flow for the safety and efficiency of transportation systems. Such a job requires knowledge and skills in transportation and traffic management systems technology and applications to be able to plan, design, develop, and maintain traffic systems and processes including traffic lights more efficiently and effectively.
Transportation planners and transportation engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Transportation Planner | Transportation Engineer | |
| Average salary | $68,983 | $68,945 |
| Salary range | Between $50,000 And $93,000 | Between $51,000 And $91,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Government |
There are a few differences between a transportation planner and a transportation engineer in terms of educational background:
| Transportation Planner | Transportation Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Business | Civil Engineering |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between transportation planners' and transportation engineers' demographics:
| Transportation Planner | Transportation Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 60.6% Female, 39.4% | Male, 80.6% Female, 19.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.5% White, 67.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 15.7% White, 64.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 13% | 5% |