Research Assistant (Housing and Communities Division

About Urban Institute

At the Urban Institute, we believe in the power of evidence to improve lives and strengthen communities. As a nonprofit focusing on social and economic policy, our researchers and policy entrepreneurs open minds, shape decisions, and identify transformative solutions to the most pressing issues of our time.

To open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions through economic and social policy research.

Collaboration, Equity, Inclusivity, Independence, and Integrity. For more information on the Urban Institute, please visit https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..

The Housing and Communities Division seeks a DC-based research assistant (Step 1 / Research track) with strong quantitative, coding, and analytic problem-solving skills to work across our six practice areas. This position will work from Urban’s offices in L’Enfant Plaza two or more days a week. The research assistant will assist senior researchers and research teams in successfully executing defined research tasks, with an emphasis on managing and analyzing data, producing clear tables and summaries, writing and reviewing code, and using emerging tools—including AI, when appropriate and consistent with Urban policies—to troubleshoot code and improve efficiency.

The person hired for this position will be assigned to one of the Division’s research practice areas and will work across several other practice areas. All staff work on multiple projects—assignments include various research methods, datasets, and topic areas and are made based on the needs of the Division, taking into consideration a research assistant’s skills and interests.

The Housing and Communities Division at the Urban Institute equips federal, state and local policymakers, practitioners, advocates, media, and philanthropy with the rigorous research they need to advance affordable, healthy, and resilient housing and places with reliable infrastructure, equitable economic opportunities, supportive financial systems, and sustainable land use policies. More information on our six practice areas (Climate and Communities;
Community and Economic Development;
Fair Housing, Land Use, and Transportation; Housing Finance Policy Center; Preventing and Ending Homelessness; and Thriving Places) can be found on our website.

This position is based in Washington, DC, and candidates who are able to follow a hybrid work schedule of two or more days per week in the office are strongly preferred.

• Collect, clean, manage, and analyze qualitative and quantitative data, with particular emphasis on working with large administrative, survey, program, and other policy-relevant datasets.
• Write, run, document, and review reproducible code to manage and analyze data in software such as R, Stata, SAS, and/or Python; troubleshoot code and improve analytic workflows.
• Use AI tools responsibly and in accordance with Urban policies to support coding problem solving, identify possible approaches, check syntax, and make routine tasks more efficient while protecting confidential data.
• Produce basic and intermediate tables, charts, maps, and descriptive statistics; summarize key patterns and provide clear first-pass interpretations of data for research teams and nontechnical audiences.
• Support quality assurance by checking code, reviewing data outputs, documenting analytic decisions, reconciling results, and identifying inconsistencies or data limitations.
• Contribute to literature reviews, field work such as interviews and site visits, publications for different audiences, research proposals, events, project management, meeting summaries, and other tasks as assigned.
• Completion of logistical tasks for research proposals, internal and external research events, and research management.
• Completion of administrative tasks such as tracking project timelines, project reporting, taking and summarizing meeting minutes, and other tasks as assigned.
• Independent time management and collaboration with teams to prioritize and complete multiple tasks.

• Bachelor’s degree or associate’s degree with equivalent experience required, preferably in Public Policy, Urban…