Meeting and Event Planner Salary in 2026: Pay by State, Industry and City

How Much Does a Meeting and Event Planner Make?

A meeting and event planner makes a median of $61,160 a year, or $29.41 an hour, in the May 2025 federal wage survey, which counted 142,860 people under the title meeting, convention and event planners. A median is a midpoint, not an offer. Half of planners earn more and half earn less, and the figure says nothing about what your first job will pay.

The full range runs like this. The 10th percentile is $36,830 and the 25th is $46,970, so one in four meeting and event planners earns under about $47,000. The 75th percentile is $78,790 and the 90th is $101,700. That's a $64,870 gap between the bottom tenth and the top tenth, and the middle half of planners earn between $46,970 and $78,790. In hourly terms, the range runs from $17.71 to $48.90.

If you're starting out, the $36,830 and $46,970 figures are the ones to plan around, and a general studies graduate should read them with the handbook's note in mind that planners who studied meeting and event management or hospitality management may start out with greater responsibilities than those from other disciplines. If you're established, the $78,790 at the 75th percentile is a working target and the $101,700 at the 90th is the line only one planner in ten crosses. The handbook also says many meeting and event planners work more than 40 hours per week, whichever end of the range you're on.

Meeting and Event Planner Salary by State

Meeting and Event Planner salary by state runs from a median of $76,970 in District of Columbia to $35,760 in West Virginia, across the 49 states and the District of Columbia where the survey publishes a median. A state median is a location figure: it reflects which employers are there and what living costs, not what any one employer pays.

Highest-Paying Cities for Meeting and Event Planners

The highest-paying cities for meeting and event planners are the metro areas below, the ten with the highest median among the 293 metro areas where the survey publishes one and at least 100 people hold the job. The second chart lists the ten metro areas that employ the most meeting and event planners, which is where most of the openings are.

Meeting and Event Planner Salary by Industry

Meeting and Event Planner pay by industry is set out below for every industry sector where the survey publishes a median, highest first, with the number employed in each. A high median in a sector with few jobs is a real figure but a narrow door.

What Drives Meeting and Event Planner Pay?

What drives meeting and event planner pay is the industry of the organization holding the meeting, because the ownership figures barely move. Private employers pay a median of $61,330 across 130,590 planners, state government pays $60,990, government as a whole $59,510 and local government $58,460. The whole ownership chart runs from $58,460 to $61,330, a $2,870 range, so public versus private isn't the question.

Industry is. Finance and insurance pays meeting and event planners a median of $92,580 across 3,330 jobs, and management of companies and enterprises pays $83,800 across 3,530. Information pays $74,400 across 4,930 and professional, scientific and technical services pays $70,490 across 13,090. The handbook describes corporate planners as the ones who organize internal business meetings and meetings between businesses, and the sector figures put that corporate side at the top of the chart. The sectors with the most planners pay less. Arts, entertainment and recreation holds 21,230 planners at a $51,290 median, accommodation and food services holds 20,800 at $59,160, and other services, home to the religious, grantmaking, civic and professional organizations the handbook names as the largest employer at 14 percent, holds 20,330 at $61,190. Utilities posts $80,260 across 50 jobs.

Metro area is the other driver. San Jose pays planners a median of $90,560 across 1,190 jobs and San Francisco pays $82,120 across 3,490. New York pays $78,610 across 9,050 planners, the largest metro count, and Boston pays $78,010 across 3,650. Washington pays $75,450 across 5,140. Atlanta, with 3,470 planners, pays $50,140, and Chicago pays $62,640 across 4,230. At the state level the District of Columbia leads at $76,970 and Massachusetts follows at $75,740, while West Virginia sits at $35,760, a $41,210 gap.

For a job search, ask what kind of meetings the role plans. A corporate planner job at a bank or a company headquarters in New York or Boston sits toward the top of the chart, and a job at a venue, a hotel or a community organization sits near or below the median. The handbook adds that planners may travel regularly to attend the events they organize, so ask about travel alongside pay.

How Can a Meeting and Event Planner Earn More?

A meeting and event planner earns more by moving from the events side of the job to the meetings side, in the plain sense of moving from venues and hospitality to corporate clients. The sector medians make the case. Finance and insurance at $92,580 is $33,420 above accommodation and food services at $59,160, and management of companies and enterprises at $83,800 is $32,510 above arts, entertainment and recreation at $51,290. The handbook's corporate planners, who organize internal business meetings and meetings between businesses, do that work at exactly the kind of employer those two sectors describe.

The second move is location. New York's $78,610 metro median is $15,970 above Chicago's $62,640 and $28,470 above Atlanta's $50,140. San Jose at $90,560 and San Francisco at $82,120 lead the metro chart, and the state medians for the District of Columbia at $76,970, Massachusetts at $75,740 and New York at $74,730 all sit well above Texas at $57,470 and Georgia at $49,250.

The handbook names two things that move a planner's standing. Planners who studied meeting and event management or hospitality management may start out with greater responsibilities than those from other disciplines, and a number of voluntary certifications are available that, while not required, demonstrate specific knowledge or professional expertise. It also counts coordinating university or volunteer events as useful experience. The meeting and event planner career guide walks through building that record from a general studies degree.

The steps into the job, and whether a general studies degree is enough to get there, are in the meeting and event planner career guide.