Austin City Guide
ABA Programs in Austin
Austin pays the highest metro median of any Texas market on this site and has the state's most expensive housing to go with it. This guide covers both ABA programs in the Austin metro — one private and accelerated, one public and education-based — the Texas license you will hold alongside your BCBA, and how the numbers compare with San Antonio an hour south.
Key Takeaways
- 01St. Edward's University runs a 30-credit M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis entirely online in seven-week accelerated terms, one course at a time, finishing in 21 months. It is the shortest route in the metro.
- 02Texas State University in San Marcos runs a 36-hour M.Ed. in Special Education with an Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis concentration — eight of its twelve courses are in autism and ABA — and a standalone Certificate in Autism for people who want the coursework alone.
- 03Austin's metro median of $66,780 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018) is the sixth-highest of the fifty metros on this site and the highest in Texas.
- 04It also has Texas's most expensive housing, at 20.4% above the national average — against 5.4% below in San Antonio an hour south. That gap is the central decision for anyone flexible about where in Central Texas they live.
- 05The Texas Center for Disability Studies at UT Austin is the state's federally designated UCEDD and runs a LEND program, giving the metro an interdisciplinary training route most Texas cities lack.
Austin's two ABA routes could hardly be less alike, which makes the choice unusually clear-cut.
St. Edward's University runs a 30-credit M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis, fully online, in seven-week accelerated terms taken one course at a time, finishing in about 21 months. Thirty credits is the shortest qualifying master's available in Central Texas and the one-course-at-a-time structure is designed for someone working full-time as a behavior technician. It is a private university, and the price reflects that.
Texas State University, in San Marcos at the southern end of the metro, runs a 36-hour M.Ed. in Special Education with an Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis concentration. Eight of the twelve required courses are in autism and ABA, and the university states the sequence is approved as meeting the requirements for BCBA examination eligibility. For someone who wants the coursework without the degree, Texas State also awards a standalone Certificate in Autism.
The employment picture is the best in Texas on paper. Austin's metro median of $66,780 is the sixth-highest of the fifty metros in this guide. The catch is that Austin now has the most expensive housing in the state by a wide margin — 20.4% above the national average, where San Antonio an hour down I-35 sits 5.4% below it. Once adjusted for cost the two metros are much closer than the headline figures suggest.
Metro scope
Includes: Austin, Round Rock, San Marcos, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Kyle, Leander. The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro, covering Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties — the city, the Williamson County growth corridor north through Round Rock, Cedar Park and Georgetown, and the I-35 corridor south through Kyle to San Marcos.
Note: Texas is a single-state metro, so the licensing picture is simple in principle. Texas licenses behavior analysts through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and has since 2017. TDLR is a general occupational regulator rather than a health board, so the application is administrative: your BCBA is the qualifying credential and the state license is issued against it. What complicates practice here is not a border but growth. Williamson and Hays counties have been among the fastest-growing in the country for a decade, and provider capacity has not kept pace with the caseload, which is why the northern and southern corridors are where the unmet demand sits.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA programs in the Austin metro
2 programs
St. Edward's University — M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis
South Austin campus; delivered online · Austin, TX · No commute; seven-week accelerated terms
- Tuition
- $1,242 per credit hour, the same rate for all students
- Length
- 30 credits, 21 months
- Format
- 100% online, seven-week accelerated terms, one course at a time
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework; St. Edward's University
- Part-time
- The one-course-at-a-time structure is the part-time option
- Thirty credits is the shortest qualifying master's in Central Texas
- Seven-week terms taken one course at a time, which suits someone already working full-time in a clinic
- A flat $1,242 per credit for everyone, so there is no out-of-state penalty
- At roughly three times the Texas State per-credit rate, the case for this program is speed and structure rather than price
- Fieldwork is not embedded; you arrange supervision yourself alongside the coursework
Texas State University — M.Ed. in Special Education: Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis
San Marcos, southern end of the metro · San Marcos, TX · About 30 miles south of Austin on I-35
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on the Texas State student business services page; confirm the current graduate rate
- Length
- 36 semester hours, twelve courses
- Format
- On-campus in San Marcos
- Accreditation
- BACB-approved course sequence for BCBA Pathway 2 eligibility; Texas State Department of Curriculum and Instruction
- Part-time
- Designed to accommodate practicing teachers
- Eight of the twelve required courses are in autism and applied behavior analysis, so the ABA content is the majority of the degree rather than a minority concentration
- Texas State states the Behavior Analyst Certification Board has approved the course sequence as meeting BCBA examination eligibility requirements
- A public-university price, which over 36 hours is a very different proposition from a private 30-credit program
- A standalone Certificate in Autism covers the eight specialized courses for people who do not need the degree
- An M.Ed. in Special Education reads as a teaching credential to a school district, which is an advantage if districts are your destination
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Austin while you study
Austin is the Texas metro where the cost story changed. Housing runs 20.4% above the national average on the BEA index — more than Dallas-Fort Worth, far more than Houston or San Antonio — while the whole basket runs 1.9% below national. That combination means the metro is inexpensive in most respects and expensive in the one that matters most to a graduate student. Everything else about the cost profile is ordinary Texas: no state income tax, car-dependent geography, and long commutes on a corridor that grew faster than its roads.
Housing, 2024
120.4
20.4% above the national average
Everything, 2024
98.1
1.9% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$68,073
of national-average spending
Housing runs 20.4% 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 Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
20.4% above the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024; San Antonio runs 5.4% below
All-items price level
1.9% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
Transit
CapMetro bus and Red Line rail
The Red Line runs Leander to downtown; useful on that corridor, not for a five-county caseload
Car
Required without qualification
The metro spans five counties and the growth corridors run 30 miles in both directions on I-35
Tuition, St. Edward's M.Ed. (all students)
$1,242 per credit hour
Flat rate for all students; 30 credits
Tuition, Texas State M.Ed.
Published on the Texas State student business services page
36 semester hours; a public-university rate
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Austin: where Central Texas students do supervised fieldwork
Austin's placement market is anchored by the state's federally designated developmental disabilities center at UT Austin, a children's hospital system that has grown quickly alongside the city, and school districts in some of the fastest-growing counties in the country. The distinctive opportunity here is geographic: Williamson and Hays counties have added population faster than providers have followed, and unmet demand concentrates in exactly those corridors.
Texas Center for Disability Studies
The Texas Center for Disability Studies at UT Austin is Texas's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and runs a LEND interdisciplinary training program alongside it.
Dell Children's Medical Center
Dell Children's Medical Center is Central Texas's pediatric hospital and the clinical tier of the local market, with developmental and behavioral services.
Austin ISD and the growth-corridor districts
Austin ISD serves the urban core, while Round Rock ISD, Leander and Hays CISD cover the fastest-growing suburbs; all host school-based placements.
Texas Medicaid and commercial agencies
Providers funded through Texas Medicaid managed care and commercial plans run in-home and center-based services across five counties, with the thinnest coverage relative to population in Williamson and Hays.
The growth-corridor gap
Provider capacity in the northern and southern I-35 corridors has lagged population growth for a decade. For a newly credentialed behavior analyst, that is where the leverage is.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Austin metro
The Austin employer market looks like the city: fast-growing, tech-adjacent and unevenly served. A large share of families here are covered by commercial plans through technology employers, which supports rates; a large share of the population growth has landed in suburbs where provider capacity is thin. Those two facts together are why a credentialed clinician willing to work in Round Rock, Georgetown or Kyle has more negotiating room than one competing for central Austin positions.
Texas Center for Disability Studies
University center for developmental disabilities
Texas's UCEDD and LEND program at UT Austin. A training destination and an employer for policy-facing and interdisciplinary work.
Dell Children's Medical Center
Pediatric hospital
Central Texas's children's hospital, hiring into developmental and behavioral services as the region's clinical anchor.
Austin Independent School District
Public school district
The urban core district, employing behavior specialists across special education services, with a school calendar and Teacher Retirement System of Texas membership.
Round Rock Independent School District
Public school district
The largest of the Williamson County growth-corridor districts, where enrollment has expanded faster than most of the state.
Commercially funded ABA agencies
Private providers
Providers serving families on technology-sector health plans, which in Austin is a larger share of the caseload than in most Texas metros and is what supports the higher metro median.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro
Metro median
$66,780
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$38,950
90th percentile
$100,220
BLS metro median, May 2025
$66,780
$7,430 above the national median
Cost of living, 2024
98.1
1.9% below the national average
Worth nationally
$68,073
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 1.9% below the national average, $66,780 here goes about as far as $68,073 would nationally.
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, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX. 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 $66,780, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro. That is $7,430 above the national median of $59,350 for the same code, and the sixth-highest median of the fifty metros on this site. BLS publishes no separate occupation for behavior analysts, and SOC 21-1018 also contains counseling roles requiring neither a master's nor board certification, so read $66,780 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
The 10th percentile is $38,950 and the 90th is $100,220. Crossing six figures at the top decile puts Austin in a group of fifteen metros in this guide that manage it, most of them coastal. On cost, prices across the metro run 1.9% below the national average, so $66,780 goes about as far as $68,073 would nationally — the third-best real figure of any metro here, behind only Portland and Houston.
That headline conceals the housing problem. The all-items index is low because most of the Texas basket is cheap; housing on its own runs 20.4% above the national average, the highest in the state. For a homeowner or someone with housing sorted, Austin's arithmetic is excellent. For someone renting through a graduate program, the all-items comparison flatters it considerably, and San Antonio an hour south is the same job in a market where housing costs 5.4% below national. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Texas
We also cover 3 other metros in Texas. If you can commute, comparing them is worth ten minutes — the program list changes, but so does the fieldwork market, and that is the half your location actually constrains.
Nearby metros
If you are flexible on metro
Central Texas is a single labor market strung along I-35, and the three metros on it differ mainly in what housing costs. That is the comparison to make.
ABA Programs in San Antonio
An hour south, with an ABAI-accredited public M.S. at $425 per credit and housing 5.4% below the national average.
ABA Programs in Houston
Texas's largest metro, with an ABAI-accredited program at UH-Clear Lake and the best cost-adjusted pay in the state.
ABA Programs in Texas
The full state picture: every Texas program, how the TDLR license works, and where the accredited ones are.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Austin?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Austin?+
03How much do BCBAs make in Austin?+
04Should I work in Austin or San Antonio?+
05Where do Austin ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Austin a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- St. Edward's University, M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis
- Texas State University, M.Ed. in Special Education, Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis concentration
- Texas Center for Disability Studies, The University of Texas at Austin (UCEDD/LEND)
- Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Behavior Analysts
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory