Historic PAS Report Series

PAS published its first Information Report in 1949. To celebrate this history, each month we're presenting a new report from the archives.

We hope you enjoy this month's fascinating snapshot of a planning issue of yesteryear.

2009 Editor's Note

PAS Report No. 3 lists 1948 and 1949 salaries for a range of planning positions. This table translates those salaries into more recent values. (Source: www.measuringworth.com)

Titles and Salaries of Selected Planning Positions

Download original report (pdf)

The planning positions covered in this report are grouped by $500 intervals (with the exception of the top two groupings). Within each such grouping, positions are listed alphabetically by city, if for a city planning commission position, or by agency, if other than a city planning commission position. The initial salary — the entering salary in a salary range, or the lowest salary offered for a particular position — determines the grouping in which the position has been classified. The salary actually being paid may be at any point within the particular position's given salary range. Where more than one person is employed under the same position title, with different salaries reported, the range from the lowest salary to the highest has been given, and the position has been classified under the lowest salary.

Information for this report has been obtained from city planning commissions, from budget requests made to and/or appropriations voted by various local governing bodies, and from positions advertised in the ASPO News Letter. Only 1948 and 1949 data have been included. This report does not attempt to include all positions in all city planning commissions; however, large and small cities are represented, as are also different geographic locations. Although the report has been specifically oriented to the city planning commission, some additional advertised planning positions in other agencies have been included. It is not feasible to define the duties of each position, nor to list the qualifications of the persons filling the positions. Such information may be found in A Manual of Recommended Personnel Standards in Public Planning, to be published by ASPO in July 1949.

Under the heading, "POPULATION", cities have been classified according to population data as of the 1940Census:

Class I consists of cities of over 1,000,000 population

Class II consists of cities of 500,000 to 1,000,000

Class III consists of cities of 250,000 to 500,000

Class IV consists of cities of 100,000 to 250,000

Class V consists of cities of 50,000 to 100,000

Class VI consists of cities of 25,000 to 50,000

Class VII consists of cities of 10,000 to 25,000

Class VIII consists of cities under 10,000