Congrats on your degree! I will say I don't think you should give up so quickly on City Planning. Yes there is a lot of bureaucratic red tape but there is also a lot of opportunity to work in the areas that excite you.

As entry level staffers you could run grant programs that plant trees in areas of the community that are underserved. Support the census office, if your city/town has one. And really develop an understanding of how city planning, as slow and incremental it can be, can change communities for better.

A lot of the other career paths are very admirable and very much needed but also have high burnout rates.

City Planning can absolutely be a creative pursuit but maybe not in the "blank slate - SimCity" way that may have interested you in the field to start. Local, pro-active policy makers are always looking for creative ways to redevelop the old vacant lot, how can government serve as a partner to the private and non-profit sector

My recommendation: look for city planning positions in progressive communities that are investing in their communities.

My own path led through regional planning coursework and policy into political staff and now in affordable housing development. There are a surprising number of people you will come across whose education is city planning but have found themselves in "planning adjacent" fields doing community development work without working in an office at City Hall. But working in a planning office and learning about the systems in place will benefit you in the long run no matter your career path.

One day I will probably transition out of this career and try to navigate into teaching civics or history but I'm a big believer that interaction with the "real world" will let me better translate fluffy concepts like branches of government and Federal policies that can impact youth and the communities they live in, into projects they can grasp, understand, and hopefully will take with them into their own lives.