Atlanta City Guide
ABA Programs in Atlanta
BCBA programs in the Atlanta metro are anchored by Georgia State University, with the University of West Georgia's online M.Ed. nearby in Carrollton and UGA about 70 miles east in Athens. Atlanta is also home to the Marcus Autism Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, one of the largest pediatric autism centers in the country.
Key Takeaways
- 01Atlanta proper has one on-campus ABA master's, Georgia State University (ABAI Tier 2A; its first-attempt BCBA pass rate fell from 86% in 2024 to 46% in 2025), with the closest day-to-day relationship to the Marcus Autism Center.
- 02The University of West Georgia in Carrollton (metro Atlanta's western edge) runs a fully online M.Ed. in Special Education with an ABA track, useful for working educators who want to stay in the Atlanta area.
- 03UGA in Athens (about 70 miles east, a long but doable commute for some) is the other strong Georgia option, with BCBA Pathway 2 coursework and an 88% pass rate in 2025, but it is not in Atlanta proper.
- 04Atlanta is the center of Georgia's ABA job market: roughly two-thirds of the state's BCBA-titled listings are here, anchored by the Marcus Autism Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
- 05Atlanta has a BLS metro median of $60,880, $1,530 above the national figure for the same code, with the 90th percentile at $95,110. Prices sit level with the national average and Georgia levies a flat 5.39% income tax, so purchasing power holds up better here than in any coastal metro on this site.
ABA programs in Atlanta center on Georgia State University, the only on-campus BCBA master's inside the city. If you want BCBA programs in Atlanta with the tightest connection to the local clinical market, Georgia State is the obvious target: it holds ABAI Tier 2A recognition and has the closest faculty relationship with the Marcus Autism Center. One caution: its first-attempt BCBA pass rate fell from 86% in 2024 to 46% on 13 candidates in the BACB 2025 report, so ask admissions what changed. The University of West Georgia in Carrollton, on the metro's western edge, adds a fully online M.Ed. ABA track for working educators who want to stay local.
Atlanta is the gravitational center of Georgia's ABA workforce. The Marcus Autism Center, a non-profit subsidiary of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta partnered with Emory University School of Medicine, is one of the largest pediatric autism clinical and research centers in the United States. It pulls trainees and credentialed BCBAs from across the Southeast, which is a big part of why roughly two-thirds of Georgia's BCBA-titled job listings cluster in metro Atlanta.
Georgia requires a state behavior-analyst license on top of your BACB certification. The Georgia Behavior Analyst Licensing Board opened under HB 412 (effective July 1, 2023), and the license is built on your existing BCBA, so the application is mainly administrative. Initial application fees are waived through August 31, 2027 during the rollout period. Plan to file as soon as the BACB posts your passing exam result.
Metro scope
Includes: Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Marietta, Alpharetta, Decatur, Carrollton. Programs within roughly 50 miles of downtown Atlanta, covering Atlanta proper, the perimeter suburbs (Sandy Springs, Roswell, Marietta, Alpharetta, Decatur), and Carrollton to the west. UGA in Athens sits about 70 miles east of downtown.
Note: Georgia requires a state behavior-analyst license through the Georgia Behavior Analyst Licensing Board (created by HB 412, effective July 1, 2023) in addition to BACB certification. The license is built on top of your BCBA, so the application is mainly administrative, and initial application fees are waived through August 31, 2027.
The programs
Accredited BCBA programs in Atlanta and the metro
2 programs
Georgia State University — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Downtown Atlanta · Atlanta, GA · MARTA accessible; downtown campus near Five Points
- Tuition
- University System of Georgia graduate rate (totals not published on program page)
- Length
- 2 years (research project spans 3 consecutive semesters)
- Format
- On-campus, evening classes (around 4:30pm start)
- Accreditation
- ABAI Tier 2A (Pathway 1 alignment); BACB-aligned
- Part-time
- Evening schedule supports working RBTs
- Only ABA master's located inside Atlanta proper
- ABAI Tier 2A recognition (Pathway 1 alignment), the strongest tier among Georgia programs
- First-attempt BCBA pass rate 46% on 13 candidates in the BACB 2025 report, down from 86% in 2024; worth asking about
- Closest day-to-day relationship with the Marcus Autism Center of any Georgia program
- Evening class start times let students keep RBT jobs during the program
University of West Georgia — M.Ed. in Special Education (ABA track)
Carrollton (metro Atlanta, western edge) · Carrollton, GA · Fully online; Carrollton is roughly 50 miles west of downtown Atlanta
- Tuition
- University System of Georgia graduate rate (totals not published)
- Length
- 30 semester hours
- Format
- Fully online
- Accreditation
- BACB-aligned coursework (no ABAI verification claimed on UWG page)
- Part-time
- Online format works around a full-time schedule
- Fully online M.Ed. ABA designed for working educators in the Atlanta area
- 30 total semester hours
- Coursework described by UWG as designed to meet BACB requirements (no ABAI tier claimed)
- Students complete their supervised fieldwork hours (2,000, or 1,500 concentrated) independently
- Carrollton sits on the metro's western edge, so you can stay local while studying online
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Atlanta while you study
Atlanta is mid-range for a major U.S. metro: more expensive than Birmingham, Nashville, or Memphis, near Charlotte, and below Raleigh-Durham. The bigger practical issue for students is that Atlanta is car-dependent. MARTA rail and bus cover the urban core (downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Decatur, the airport) reasonably well, but most of the metro, including Marietta, Alpharetta, Roswell, and Carrollton, has limited or no rail service, so plan on a car for clinical placements in the suburbs.
Housing, 2024
111.0
11.0% above the national average
Everything, 2024
100.1
level with the national average
Metro median pay covers
$60,819
of national-average spending
Housing runs 11.0% above the national average, which is the single biggest reason the overall cost of living lands where it does.
Both figures are BEA Regional Price Parities for Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
1-BR rent, Atlanta median
$1,610/mo
Zumper, August 2026
2-BR rent, Atlanta median
$2,000/mo
Zumper, August 2026
1-BR rent, Midtown / Buckhead
Above the metro median
Premium intown neighborhoods, MARTA accessible
1-BR rent, Downtown / near Georgia State
Around the metro median
Walkable to the GSU campus and Five Points MARTA
1-BR rent, Decatur
Around the metro median
MARTA-served, popular with grad students and educators
1-BR rent, Marietta / Sandy Springs / Roswell
Below the metro median
Suburban; a car is needed, rail is limited
1-BR rent, Carrollton (UWG area)
Well below the metro median
Western edge of the metro, and fully car-dependent
MARTA monthly pass (Breeze)
$95/mo
Covers rail and bus; useful only for intown living
State income tax
5.39% flat
Georgia moved to a flat rate in 2024
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Atlanta: where Atlanta-area students do supervised fieldwork
Metro Atlanta has the deepest fieldwork market in Georgia. The Marcus Autism Center, in partnership with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory, is the marquee placement, and Georgia State students rotate through Marcus practicums. Around it sits a dense network of private ABA agencies, hospital programs, and large school districts (Atlanta Public Schools, Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett) that host supervised fieldwork.
Marcus Autism Center (Children's Healthcare of Atlanta)
The Marcus Autism Center is one of the largest pediatric autism clinical and research centers in the U.S. It runs specialty programs (Skill Acquisition, Complex Behavior, Language and Learning, Severe Behavior) and hosts practicum students, especially from Georgia State.
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA)
CHOA is the parent system for Marcus and one of the largest pediatric health systems in the country, with behavioral health programs across the metro.
Emory University School of Medicine (Pediatrics)
Emory Pediatrics partners with Marcus on the autism division, supporting clinical-research training tracks.
Metro Atlanta school districts
Atlanta Public Schools, plus Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett county districts, employ behavior specialists and host school-based fieldwork for educators on the BCBA path.
Private ABA agencies
Atlanta has a large private-agency footprint, including national providers such as Hopebridge and Behavioral Innovations, plus numerous regional clinics, many of which host practicum students.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta has the largest concentration of BCBA employers in Georgia. The Marcus Autism Center and CHOA anchor the high end (specialty BCBA and BCBA-D roles tied to clinical-research benefit structures), surrounded by private ABA chains, regional clinics, and the large suburban school districts. Roughly two-thirds of Georgia's BCBA-titled listings are in the Atlanta metro.
Marcus Autism Center
Pediatric autism center (nonprofit, CHOA subsidiary)
Hires BCBAs at every level, including specialty BCBA-D positions and clinical-research roles; pay tends to sit above metro median.
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA)
Pediatric health system
Parent system for Marcus; behavioral health programs across the metro and PSLF-eligible nonprofit employment.
Hopebridge
National ABA chain (metro Atlanta clinics)
National pediatric ABA provider with several Atlanta-area centers; common entry point for new BCBAs.
Behavioral Innovations
Regional ABA provider
Center-based ABA provider expanding across the Southeast, including the Atlanta metro.
Atlanta Public Schools (Special Education)
Public school district
Employs behavior specialists across special education programs; PSLF-eligible public employment.
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Public school district
One of the largest districts in the metro and the state, with school-based behavior support roles.
Emory University School of Medicine (Pediatrics)
Academic medical center
Autism division partnered with Marcus; clinical-research roles for BCBAs and BCBA-Ds.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro
Metro median
$60,880
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$38,650
90th percentile
$95,110
BLS metro median, May 2025
$60,880
$1,530 above the national median
Cost of living, 2024
100.1
level with the national average
Worth nationally
$60,819
the same pay in national-average dollars
Prices in the metro sit level with the national average, so $60,880 buys about what it would anywhere else.
BLS does not publish a separate occupation for behavior analysts. This is the May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018 (Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors), the category BCBAs are counted in, which also contains counseling roles that typically pay less. Read it as a floor for the metro, not as BCBA pay. Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA. Cost of living is the BEA Regional Price Parity for the metro, all items, 2024, where the national average is 100. It is the most recent year BEA publishes, so it sits one year behind the wage figure. Prices: BEA Regional Price Parities.
The published figure for this metro is $60,880, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro. That is $1,530 above the national median of $59,350 for the same code. BLS does not publish a separate occupation for behavior analysts, and SOC 21-1018 also contains counseling roles that do not require a master's degree plus board certification, so read $60,880 as a floor for the metro rather than as BCBA pay.
The same release puts the 10th percentile at $38,650 and the 90th at $95,110. Because BCBA-titled roles sit at the credentialed end of that category, the 90th percentile is the more useful marker for what an experienced behavior analyst earns here, and the median is the more useful one for what the wider category pays. Prices across the metro sit level with the national average, so that figure buys about what it would anywhere else. Housing on its own runs 11.0% above the national average.
Within the metro, the Marcus Autism Center and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta anchor the top of the clinical market, and the large county school districts hire on their own salary schedules rather than agency scales. Georgia's flat 5.39% income tax applies wherever you land. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Georgia
Atlanta is currently the only Georgia metro with its own guide. The state guide carries every program in Georgia plus the licensure picture.
Nearby metros
If you're flexible on location
If you're flexible, UGA in Athens (about 70 miles east) is the other strong Georgia ABA program, and Georgia's outer metros (Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, Macon) tend to be credentialed-BCBA-short, which can mean higher pay leverage if you're willing to relocate. The statewide guide below covers all five Georgia programs and the full licensure picture.
ABA Programs in Georgia
The full Georgia guide: all five ABA master's programs (including UGA in Athens), the state behavior-analyst license, Ava's Law, and BCBA salary across Georgia metros.
ABA Programs by State
Browse our state-by-state ABA program guides to compare Georgia against other markets.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01What ABA programs are in Atlanta?+
02What is the best BCBA program in Atlanta?+
03Is UGA in Atlanta?+
04Do I need a Georgia license to practice ABA in Atlanta?+
05How much do BCBAs make in Atlanta?+
06Where do Atlanta ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
07Is Atlanta a good city to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- BACB, University Training for Those Pursuing BCBA Certification
- Georgia Behavior Analyst Licensing Board (Georgia Secretary of State)
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell MSA (May 2025)
- Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
- Autism Speaks, Georgia State-Regulated Insurance Coverage (Ava's Law)