Cincinnati City Guide
ABA Programs in Cincinnati
Cincinnati is a tri-state metro where all three states license behavior analysts, under three different bodies, with no reciprocity between them. It is also home to one of the best children's hospitals in the country and two online master's from the same university. This guide covers the ABA programs in Cincinnati, the three-state licensing problem, and what the metro actually pays.
Key Takeaways
- 01The University of Cincinnati runs two separate behavior analysis master's, both online: a 36-credit M.S. in Behavior Analysis and a 30-credit M.Ed. in Foundations in Behavior Analysis, at $746 per credit in-state.
- 02The M.S. program states it is seeking ABAI accreditation to meet BACB requirements taking effect in 2032. That is a pursuit, not a status — it is not accredited today, and the distinction matters.
- 03Three states, three licenses, no reciprocity. Ohio's COBA credential dates to 2013, Kentucky's license to 2010, Indiana's to 2021. Covington is a four-minute drive from downtown Cincinnati and a different licensing regime.
- 04Ohio's COBA renews biennially by August 31 of even-numbered years with 23 continuing education hours every two years. Fixed-date renewal cycles catch people out; put it in a calendar.
- 05The metro median is $58,520 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018) against prices 4.6% below the national average, so it is worth about $61,342 nationally — better real pay than Chicago, Boston or Washington DC.
Cincinnati's ABA education market is one university offering two routes, and its licensing situation is three states offering three separate credentials. Both facts matter and the second one matters more.
The University of Cincinnati's M.S. in Behavior Analysis is a 36-credit online program of ten core courses plus two practicum courses, taking just over two years, and it requires an agreement from a BCBA-credentialed supervisor for on-site fieldwork. Its program page states it is seeking ABAI accreditation to meet BACB requirements taking effect in 2032 — which is a stated intention rather than a current status. The M.Ed. in Foundations in Behavior Analysis is the shorter sibling at 30 credits and about twenty months, at the same per-credit rate.
The licensing picture is where Cincinnati is genuinely unusual. The metro spans Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Ohio licenses behavior analysts as Certified Ohio Behavior Analysts through the State Board of Psychology, a framework established in 2013. Kentucky licenses through its own Applied Behavior Analysis Licensing Board and has since 2010. Indiana licenses through its Professional Licensing Agency and has since 2021. There is no reciprocity among them, and the distances involved are trivial — Covington sits across a bridge from downtown Cincinnati. A behavior analyst building a regional caseload here can end up holding three state credentials.
Metro scope
Includes: Cincinnati, Covington, Newport, Florence, Hamilton, Mason, West Chester, Lawrenceburg. The Cincinnati metro, which spans three states — Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties in Ohio, the Northern Kentucky counties of Boone, Kenton and Campbell across the river, and Dearborn County in Indiana to the west.
Note: This is one of very few American metros where a short drive crosses two state lines, and all three states license behavior analysts under different bodies. Ohio licenses through the Ohio State Board of Psychology as a Certified Ohio Behavior Analyst, a credential established September 29, 2013 under ORC Chapter 4783, renewing biennially by August 31 of even-numbered years with 23 continuing education hours. Kentucky licenses through the Kentucky Applied Behavior Analysis Licensing Board and has since 2010. Indiana licenses through the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency and has since 2021. None of the three recognizes the others. A caseload spanning Cincinnati, Covington and Lawrenceburg needs three separate credentials, three fee schedules and three renewal calendars — and Covington is a four-minute drive from downtown Cincinnati.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA programs in Cincinnati and the metro
2 programs
University of Cincinnati — M.S. in Behavior Analysis
Cincinnati; delivered online · Cincinnati, OH · No commute; online delivery
- Tuition
- $746 per credit hour in-state, $761 per credit hour out-of-state
- Length
- 36 credits — ten core courses plus two practicum courses — in just over 2 years
- Format
- Fully online
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework; UC states the program is seeking ABAI accreditation
- Part-time
- Built for working professionals, with a two-year-plus default pace
- The research-oriented of UC's two behavior analysis master's, at 36 credits including two practicum courses
- Requires an agreement from a BCBA-credentialed supervisor for on-site fieldwork, so line that up before you enroll
- The program page states it is seeking accreditation to meet BACB requirements taking effect in 2032 — a pursuit, not a current status
- The out-of-state premium is $15 per credit, which is close to nothing and makes this viable from anywhere
- A stated 3.0 minimum GPA, with the program page giving 3.25 as an absolute floor
University of Cincinnati — M.Ed. in Foundations in Behavior Analysis
Cincinnati; delivered online · Cincinnati, OH · No commute; online delivery
- Tuition
- $746 per credit hour in-state, $761 per credit hour out-of-state
- Length
- 30 credits, about 20 months
- Format
- Fully online
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework; UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services
- Part-time
- The 20-month default pace assumes part-time study alongside work
- Six credits shorter than the M.S. and about four months faster, at the same per-credit rate
- An education framing rather than a research one, which suits people heading into schools
- The same near-flat out-of-state rate of $761 per credit
- No practicum courses inside the degree, so supervised fieldwork is entirely your own arrangement
- If you want the shortest UC route to BCBA eligibility, this is it; if you want practicum inside the degree, take the M.S.
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Cincinnati while you study
Cincinnati is inexpensive by national standards and very inexpensive by the standards of metros with a top-tier children's hospital. The BEA index puts the whole basket 4.6% below the national average and housing 12.4% below it. The complication here is not cost but jurisdiction: an apartment in Covington and a job in Cincinnati puts you in two states for tax purposes and, if you practice on both sides, two licensing regimes.
Housing, 2024
87.6
12.4% below the national average
Everything, 2024
95.4
4.6% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$61,342
of national-average spending
Housing runs 12.4% below the national average, which is less of a factor here than the rest of the basket.
Both figures are BEA Regional Price Parities for Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
12.4% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024
All-items price level
4.6% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
Transit
Metro bus, TANK across the river, and the Bell Connector streetcar
Two separate transit agencies for one metro, which is itself a tri-state artefact
Car
Required for fieldwork
A tri-state metro spanning eight counties in three states
Cross-border practice
Three states, three licenses
Ohio (2013), Kentucky (2010) and Indiana (2021), with no reciprocity
Tuition, UC M.S. (in-state)
$746 per credit hour
$761 per credit hour out-of-state; 36 credits
Tuition, UC M.Ed. (in-state)
$746 per credit hour
$761 per credit hour out-of-state; 30 credits
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Cincinnati: where tri-state students do supervised fieldwork
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is the reason this metro trains people above its weight. It hosts both Ohio's second University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and a LEND interdisciplinary training program run jointly with the University of Cincinnati, and its Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics is among the largest in the country. Beneath that sits Ohio's county board system, which is a structure most states do not have.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati Children's is consistently among the largest and most research-active pediatric hospitals in the United States, and its developmental and behavioral pediatrics division is a major behavior-analytic setting.
University of Cincinnati UCEDD and LEND
The LEND program at Cincinnati Children's and the University of Cincinnati trains behavior analysts alongside pediatricians, psychologists and therapists, and the university's Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities is based at the hospital.
Ohio county boards of developmental disabilities
Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services is one of Ohio's 88 county boards — a county-level public authority for developmental disability services that exists in this form almost nowhere else in the country.
School districts across three states
Cincinnati Public Schools in Ohio, plus the Northern Kentucky districts and Dearborn County, Indiana. Which state a placement sits in determines which license governs it.
Private ABA agencies across the tri-state
Providers funded through Ohio Medicaid, Kentucky Medicaid and commercial insurance operate across the metro, and many hold credentials in more than one state precisely because the caseload crosses lines.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Cincinnati metro
Ohio's county board system is the structural feature worth understanding here. Each of Ohio's 88 counties has a board of developmental disabilities — a public authority that plans, funds and in some cases directly provides services. That gives Ohio a layer of public-sector employment between the hospital tier and the private agencies that most states simply do not have, and it is a route into stable, pensioned work that a new graduate from out of state would not think to look for.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Pediatric academic medical center
One of the largest and most research-active children's hospitals in the country, hosting the metro's UCEDD and LEND program alongside a major developmental and behavioral pediatrics division.
Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services
County board of developmental disabilities
One of Ohio's 88 county boards, a public authority planning and funding developmental disability services for the county — a public-sector employment layer unique to Ohio.
University of Cincinnati
Public research university
Runs both metro behavior analysis master's and, with Cincinnati Children's, the LEND and UCEDD programs.
Cincinnati Public Schools
Public school district
The metro's largest Ohio-side district, employing behavior specialists across special education services with a school calendar and Ohio public pension membership.
Tri-state private ABA agencies
Insurance- and Medicaid-funded providers
Providers operating across three states, many holding multiple state credentials because the metro's caseload does not respect the river.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Cincinnati metro
Metro median
$58,520
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$39,000
90th percentile
$81,810
BLS metro median, May 2025
$58,520
$830 below the national median
Cost of living, 2024
95.4
4.6% below the national average
Worth nationally
$61,342
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 4.6% below the national average, $58,520 here goes about as far as $61,342 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, Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN. 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 $58,520, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Cincinnati metro. That is $830 below the national median of $59,350 for the same code. 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 $58,520 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
Prices across the metro run 4.6% below the national average, so $58,520 goes about as far as $61,342 would nationally. That real figure beats Chicago ($59,459), Boston ($57,368), Washington DC ($59,936) and Philadelphia ($56,667), all of which pay more in nominal terms. Housing runs 12.4% below the national average.
The 10th percentile is $39,000 and the 90th is $81,810 — a $42,810 spread that is narrow, and a ceiling that is modest. The county board system probably contributes to that shape: a large public-sector employment layer with structured pay scales tends to compress a distribution at both ends. The trade for a lower ceiling is a stability and pension structure that private agency work does not offer. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Ohio
We also cover 2 other metros in Ohio. 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
Ohio has three comparable metros and no single dominant one, which is unusual — Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati are genuinely similar in size and in what they pay. Louisville is the Kentucky alternative down I-71.
ABA Programs in Columbus
Two hours northeast, where Ohio State runs the state's only ABAI-accredited ABA master's and the Nisonger Center is the state's UCEDD.
ABA Programs in Louisville
Down I-71, in the Kentucky licensing regime, with a 30-credit online M.Ed. at the University of Louisville.
ABA Programs in Ohio
The full state picture: every Ohio program, the COBA credential, and why licensure sits under the psychology board.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Cincinnati?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Cincinnati?+
03Is the University of Cincinnati ABA program accredited?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Cincinnati?+
05What are Ohio's county boards of developmental disabilities?+
06Is Cincinnati a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- University of Cincinnati, M.S. in Behavior Analysis
- University of Cincinnati, M.Ed. in Foundations in Behavior Analysis
- Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4783, Certified Ohio Behavior Analysts
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Cincinnati MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- LEND Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the University of Cincinnati
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory