Master's · Cambridge, Massachusetts

Is City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology worth it?

Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.

The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans

Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 2.5 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $96,574; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $107,552; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $38,500; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Typical borrowing (no graduate net price is published): $41k (likely $41k – $41k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $36k a year vs bachelor's graduates 4 years out in MA; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 2.5 years (likely 1.8–3.8); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $141k (likely $67 – $272k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $581k (likely $282k – $896k); Today's dollars

Scorecard reports no net price for graduate programs; cost is based on what graduates typically borrowed.