undergradly.
Major · Social Sciences

How cities work and who decides what they become

Urban Studies/Affairs applies social science to cities — housing, transit, inequality, governance, planning. About 806 degrees are awarded annually across 97 colleges, almost entirely at the bachelor’s level. Five-year median earnings run about $62,635.

Schools offering
97
Annual completions
806
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$63k

About this major

Urban Studies/Affairs treats the city as its primary subject and uses social science to make sense of it. The CIP definition frames it as the application of social-science principles to urban institutions and the forces shaping urban life — meaning coursework draws from sociology, political science, economics, and geography, applied to questions of housing, transit, governance, inequality, and metropolitan change. In practice, students take classes in urban theory, the development of cities, urban sociology, principles of urban and social planning, and the politics and economics of local government and services. Upper-division work often layers in GIS, neighborhood case studies, and a capstone tied to a real city or policy problem.

The major draws students who are interested in cities as systems — how decisions about land use, transportation, and public investment shape who lives where and on what terms. It rewards readers and researchers who can move between qualitative case studies and quantitative data, and who are comfortable with ambiguity. It sits alongside, but is distinct from, the design-and-studio version of urban work found in City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning (CIP 04.0301, about 654 completions annually) — that program trains planners directly, while Urban Studies/Affairs trains people to think about cities through a social-science lens.

The field is mid-sized at the undergraduate level: about 806 completions a year across 97 colleges, almost entirely at the bachelor’s level. Top producers cluster in California (UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, San Diego State, Cal State Northridge), with strong presence in New York (NYU, Barnard) and the Pacific Northwest (University of Washington Tacoma, Portland State). Career destinations include Urban and Regional Planners ($83,720 median wage, master’s required), Sociologists ($101,690, master’s required), and a wide spread of bachelor’s-accessible roles in city government, regional planning agencies, federal HUD/EPA/DOT, and nonprofit and community-development organizations.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Managers, all other $137k +4.5% Bachelor's degree
Urban and regional planners $84k +3.4% Master's degree
Social sciences teachers, postsecondary, all other $75k +1.7% Doctoral or professional degree
Sociologists $102k +3.6% Master's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$63k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$46k

Bachelor's

$63k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you find yourself drawn to questions about how cities work and who they work for, if you read about housing policy or transit debates for fun, if you’re comfortable mixing qualitative case studies with quantitative data and basic GIS, if a career in public service, planning, or community development sounds more rewarding than a private-sector ladder, and if you’re willing to treat the bachelor’s as the first step in a longer arc that probably runs through a Master of Urban Planning. The geography of the top producers — UC system, NYU, Barnard, Portland State, University of Washington — also signals that students who plan to live and work in major metros will find natural professional networks built into these programs.

Think twice if you want a direct undergraduate runway into the planner title without graduate school — the planner role tracked in this data ($83,720) requires a master’s, and senior public-sector roles often expect AICP certification on top. Think twice if you’re drawn to the design-and-drawing side of urban work — the CIP 04.0301 City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning major is a closer fit for studio-based training. Think twice if your earnings expectations are anchored to technical or business majors — the bachelor’s five-year median runs about $63,000, with entry roles often in the $45,000 to $60,000 range, and the higher tracked wages require additional credentials to reach.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Urban Studies/Affairs

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA 0 60 60
University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA 0 50 50
University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA 0 37 37
Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA 0 34 34
New York University New York, NY 0 30 30
California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA 0 29 29
Barnard College New York, NY 0 29 29
University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA 0 26 26
Portland State University Portland, OR 0 24 24
San Diego State University San Diego, CA 0 23 23
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Sociology, General

26,513 completions/yr

Social Sciences, General

14,846 completions/yr

Criminology

8,556 completions/yr

Social Sciences, Other

1,279 completions/yr

City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning

654 completions/yr

Sociology and Anthropology

425 completions/yr

Medical/Health Humanities

255 completions/yr

Real Estate Development

200 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Urban Studies/Affairs majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework draws from sociology, political science, geography, and economics, applied to the city as a unit of analysis. You can expect classes on urban theory, the history of metropolitan growth, housing and land use, transportation policy, urban inequality, and the politics and economics of local government. Upper-division work typically involves GIS or other spatial analysis, neighborhood-level case studies, and a research project or capstone tied to a real city. The major sits closer to social science than to design — students spend more time on policy memos and empirical research than on studio drawings or site plans.
What kinds of jobs do Urban Studies/Affairs graduates end up in?
The career most directly tied to this major is Urban and Regional Planner ($83,720 median wage, 3.4% projected growth), but that role typically requires a master’s degree — most often a Master of Urban Planning (MUP) or a Master of City and Regional Planning (MCRP) from a PAB-accredited program. Sociologists ($101,690 median, 3.6% growth) and postsecondary social-science teachers ($75,040) also require graduate credentials. At the bachelor’s level, realistic landing spots include planning assistant, GIS technician, community-development associate, nonprofit program coordinator, and policy-research roles inside city or county departments, regional councils of government, federal agencies like HUD, EPA, or DOT, or think tanks such as Brookings or the Urban Institute.
Do I need a graduate degree to have a meaningful career in this field?
For the named career tracks in this data, mostly yes. Three of the four careers most associated with this major — Urban and Regional Planner, Sociologist, and postsecondary social-science teacher — require a master’s or doctoral degree. Senior public-sector planners also tend to pursue AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) certification on top of the MUP. The bachelor’s is a real credential, and it opens doors in nonprofit work, community development, public administration, GIS, and entry-level municipal roles. But if your target is the planner title or a research career, plan on graduate school — the bachelor’s functions more as a pre-MUP on-ramp than as a terminal degree.
How does this major compare to City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning (CIP 04.0301)?
These are the two main undergraduate routes into the planning world, and the difference matters. Urban Studies/Affairs (CIP 45.1201, about 806 completions a year) sits in the social sciences — it leans toward urban sociology, political economy, policy analysis, and broad theory. City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning (CIP 04.0301, about 654 completions) is the professional-school sibling — it tends to live in architecture or planning schools and includes studio coursework, site analysis, and direct training in plan-making. If you want a research, policy, or academic trajectory, Urban Studies is the more natural fit. If you already know you want to be a planner and you want the most direct undergraduate runway into an MUP, the 04.0301 sibling is closer to professional preparation.
Does where you study or work change the earnings picture?
Geography matters more in this field than in most. Planning and policy roles in strong-market metros — New York, Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle — tend to pay 30 to 50 percent above regional averages, but they come with proportional cost-of-living. The top producers of this major reflect that geography: NYU and Barnard in New York, UC Berkeley and the UC system in California, Portland State in the Pacific Northwest. Public-sector and nonprofit work, which absorbs a meaningful share of bachelor’s graduates, tends to compress wage ranges relative to private real estate development, consulting, or tech-adjacent civic-data work.
What if I like this field but not the academic side?
There are adjacent paths that keep you close to cities without committing to graduate school. Real estate development, community organizing, civic technology, transit advocacy, and local government program management all draw from the same skill set — spatial reasoning, stakeholder analysis, and a working knowledge of how cities are governed. Internships during the bachelor’s — at a city planning department, a regional council of government, a community development corporation, or a real estate firm — tend to be the most reliable way to convert this degree into employment. The major rewards students who pair coursework with applied experience early.