AICP Certification Exam Pass Rates
The American Planning Association is pleased to provide this summary of the AICP Certification Exam pass rates of graduates of PAB-accredited planning programs.
2004–2014
The list below depicts AICP Certification Exam pass rates of graduates of accredited planning programs in the United States and Canada. The pass rates are based on examination attempts that occurred between 2004 and 2014. An examination attempt was counted for this summary if the examinee graduated from an accredited planning program during that school's accreditation period.
A full listing of PAB-accredited planning programs that includes the full program name is available on PAB's website. All programs listed are, or have been, accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB).
The exam pass rates list below is in quartiles to provide additional context regarding the pass rates relative to the volume of exam attempts.
All AICP exam data are owned and securely maintained by the American Planning Association. (a)
Quartiles are assigned based on total number of exam attempts. (b)
Mean Pass Rate (PAB accredited program graduates) (c) — 76%
1st Quartile
(91 or more attempts)
| School Name | Degree | Total | Pass | Pass Rate (%) |
| University of Minnesota | Master | 93 | 88 | 95% |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Master | 122 | 115 | 94% |
| University of Pennsylvania | Master | 200 | 182 | 91% |
| University of Michigan | Master | 124 | 111 | 90% |
| University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign | Master | 96 | 85 | 89% |
| University of Texas–Austin | Master | 91 | 80 | 88% |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University | Master | 92 | 80 | 87% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Master | 92 | 79 | 86% |
| University of California–Los Angeles | Master | 94 | 80 | 85% |
| University of Colorado-Denver | Master | 175 | 147 | 84% |
| University of Virginia | Master | 114 | 95 | 83% |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | Master | 184 | 153 | 83% |
| University of Florida | Master | 94 | 77 | 82% |
| Florida State University | Master | 177 | 141 | 80% |
| Rutgers University | Master | 168 | 132 | 79% |
| Ohio State University | Master | 162 | 123 | 76% |
| University of Illinois-Chicago | Master | 141 | 107 | 76% |
| University of Kansas | Master | 99 | 69 | 70% |
| University of Southern California | Master | 123 | 85 | 69% |
| University of Cincinnati | Master | 106 | 71 | 67% |
| State University of New York at Buffalo | Master | 95 | 63 | 66% |
| Iowa State University | Bachelor | 114 | 73 | 64% |
| University of Texas–Arlington | Master | 111 | 58 | 52% |
| Florida Atlantic University | Master | 110 | 46 | 42% |
2nd Quartile
(56 to 90 attempts)
| School Name | Degree | Total | Pass | Pass Rate (%) |
| University of Wisconsin–Madison | Master | 60 | 59 | 98% |
| Portland State University | Master | 78 | 75 | 96% |
| University of Washington | Master | 78 | 71 | 91% |
| University of California–Berkeley | Master | 84 | 76 | 90% |
| California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo | Master | 67 | 59 | 88% |
| University of Iowa | Master | 84 | 73 | 87% |
| State University of New York at Albany | Master | 57 | 49 | 86% |
| University of Maryland-College Park | Master | 64 | 55 | 86% |
| Cornell University | Master | 87 | 73 | 84% |
| University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee | Master | 78 | 63 | 81% |
| Columbia University | Master | 83 | 67 | 81% |
| Harvard University | Master | 56 | 45 | 80% |
| University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign | Bachelor | 64 | 51 | 80% |
| Ball State University | Bachelor | 59 | 46 | 78% |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | Master | 75 | 58 | 77% |
| New York University | Master | 86 | 65 | 76% |
| Clemson University | Master | 75 | 56 | 75% |
| San Jose State University | Master | 59 | 43 | 73% |
| Hunter College of the City University of New York | Master | 59 | 42 | 71% |
| Texas A & M University | Master | 73 | 47 | 64% |
| University of New Orleans | Master | 70 | 43 | 61% |
| California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo | Bachelor | 77 | 46 | 60% |
| Arizona State University | Master | 59 | 33 | 56% |
| University of Cincinnati | Bachelor | 73 | 39 | 53% |
| California State Polytechnic University–Pomona | Bachelor | 81 | 36 | 44% |
3rd Quartile
(24 to 55 attempts)
| School Name | Degree | Total | Pass | Pass Rate (%) |
| Tufts University | Master | 29 | 28 | 97% |
| University of California–Irvine | Master | 43 | 38 | 88% |
| University of Oregon | Master | 39 | 34 | 87% |
| University of Memphis | Master | 24 | 20 | 83% |
| Kansas State University | Master | 39 | 32 | 82% |
| Pratt Institute of Brooklyn | Master | 27 | 22 | 82% |
| University of Rhode Island (d) | Master | 25 | 20 | 80% |
| University of Massachusetts–Amherst | Master | 55 | 43 | 78% |
| Michigan State University | Master | 29 | 22 | 76% |
| Michigan State University | Bachelor | 45 | 34 | 76% |
| University of New Mexico | Master | 34 | 25 | 74% |
| Eastern Washington University | Bachelor | 30 | 22 | 73% |
| University of Nebraska | Master | 41 | 29 | 71% |
| Ball State University | Master | 43 | 30 | 70% |
| Cleveland State University | Master | 35 | 23 | 66% |
| Iowa State University | Master | 37 | 24 | 65% |
| Eastern Washington University | Master | 30 | 19 | 63% |
| University of Tennessee (d) | Master | 41 | 25 | 61% |
| University of Arizona | Master | 46 | 28 | 61% |
| California State Polytechnic University–Pomona | Master | 54 | 32 | 59% |
| Arizona State University | Bachelor | 24 | 13 | 54% |
| Auburn University (d) | Master | 27 | 14 | 52% |
| University of Oklahoma | Master | 54 | 26 | 48% |
| East Carolina University | Bachelor | 29 | 13 | 45% |
| Morgan State University | Master | 31 | 8 | 26% |
4th Quartile
(23 or fewer attempts)
| School Name | Degree | Total | Pass | Pass Rate (%) |
| Jackson State University | Master | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| North Dakota State University (d) | Master | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| Universite de Montreal (f) | Bachelor | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| University of British Columbia (f) | Master | 10 | 10 | 100% |
| University of Miami (d) | Master | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| University of Utah | Master | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| University of Virginia | Bachelor | 23 | 21 | 91% |
| Eastern Michigan University | Bachelor | 11 | 9 | 82% |
| George Washington University | Master | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| University of Hawaii at Manoa | Master | 20 | 15 | 75% |
| University of Louisville | Master | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| University of Pittsburgh (d) | Master | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| McGill University (e) | Master | 18 | 12 | 67% |
| Missouri State University (former SW Missouri State U) | Bachelor | 9 | 6 | 67% |
| University of Manitoba (e) | Master | 9 | 6 | 67% |
| Wayne State University | Master | 23 | 14 | 61% |
| Universite de Montreal (f) | Master | 5 | 3 | 60% |
| Queen's University (e) | Master | 6 | 3 | 50% |
| Temple University | Master | 6 | 3 | 50% |
| University of Washington (d) | Bachelor | 6 | 3 | 50% |
| Southern Illinois University (d) | Master | 3 | 1 | 33% |
| Alabama A & M University | Master | 22 | 6 | 27% |
| Alabama A & M University | Bachelor | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| Pennsylvania State University–Capitol Campus (d) | Master | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| Texas Southern University | Master | 1 | 0 | 0% |
NOTES
(a) The AICP Certification Exam Pass Rate data and similar information published on this website are the property of the American Planning Association (APA) and protected by applicable copyright and other laws, rules, and agreements. These data cannot be used, recreated, or reproduced in any way other than by providing a direct link to the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for this website, which right to link may be revoked by APA at any time for any reason. See also "Copyright and Legal Notices" for additional terms and conditions that apply to this information except as otherwise set forth above.
(b) Quartile ranges were determined using total number of examination attempts per accredited planning program. An examination attempt was counted if the examinee received a degree from the program during the program's accreditation period. The number of programs used to determine quartiles included programs accredited by either the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB), the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), or both. Note that in the initial analysis, the Fourth Quartile included many CIP-only programs since these programs generally produced very small numbers of examinees during the study period. However, CIP-only programs are not displayed here. The result is that the number of schools shown in the Fourth Quartile is significantly smaller than the number of schools listed in the other quartiles.
(c) Percent of passed examination attempts by accredited planning program graduates during the 2004-2014 period out of all examination attempts by accredited planning program graduates during the 2004-2014 period. The "mean pass rate," as defined above, is 76%.
(d) Formerly, but no longer, accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board.
(e) Accredited by the Canadian Institute of Planners; formerly, but no longer, accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board.
(f) Accredited by both the Planning Accreditation Board and the Canadian Institute of Planners.
Questions
Please contact aicpexam@planning.org for any questions regarding this information.