Columbus City Guide
ABA Programs in Columbus
Columbus holds Ohio's only ABAI-accredited ABA master's, the state's federally designated developmental disabilities center, and one of the largest children's hospitals in the country — all within a few miles of each other. This guide covers the ABA programs in Columbus, the Ohio license you will hold alongside your BCBA, and an exam result worth asking the program about.
Key Takeaways
- 01Ohio State University Online's Master of Educational Studies with an Applied Behavior Analysis specialization is the only ABAI-accredited ABA master's in Ohio, re-accredited through December 31, 2030.
- 02It is a flat $894 per credit hour for residents and non-residents alike across 36 credits, with online-only out-of-state students paying the resident instructional rate plus a $200 per semester distance surcharge.
- 03One figure deserves your attention: OSU's BCBA first-attempt pass rate was 44% in the BACB 2025 report, combined 2024-2025 data because of low single-year candidate volume (9 candidates), against a 51% national first-time rate. It was 38% in the 2024 report. Small denominators move a percentage a long way, but it is a fair question to ask the program.
- 04The OSU Nisonger Center is Ohio's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and runs a LEND program, giving Columbus both the state's accredited program and its interdisciplinary training hub.
- 05The metro median is $59,370 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018) against prices 4.5% below the national average, so it is worth about $62,168 nationally.
Columbus is where Ohio's behavior analysis infrastructure is concentrated, and unusually the pieces sit next to one another. Ohio State University Online's Master of Educational Studies with an Applied Behavior Analysis specialization is the only ABAI-accredited ABA master's in the state, re-accredited through December 31, 2030. It runs 36 credits fully online at $894 per credit, the same rate for Ohio residents and everyone else, with online-only out-of-state students paying a $200 per semester distance surcharge on top of the resident instructional rate rather than the much higher on-campus non-resident rate.
The Nisonger Center, also at Ohio State, is Ohio's federally designated University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and runs a LEND interdisciplinary training program. A few miles away, Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the United States. For a metro of 2.2 million, that is a dense concentration of the institutions that matter in this field.
One thing deserves to be said plainly rather than buried. Ohio State's BCBA first-attempt pass rate was 44% in the BACB 2025 report, presented as combined 2024-2025 data because single-year candidate volume was low, against a 51% national first-time rate (38% in the 2024 report). A small denominator can move a percentage a long way and the figure should not be read as a verdict on the program. It is, however, exactly the sort of thing worth raising directly with an admissions office before committing two years and $32,000 to a degree.
Metro scope
Includes: Columbus, Dublin, Westerville, Grove City, Reynoldsburg, Hilliard, Delaware, Newark. The Columbus metro, covering Franklin County and the nine counties around it — the city and its inner suburbs, the affluent northern ring through Dublin, Westerville and Delaware, and the outlying county seats at Newark, Lancaster and Circleville.
Note: Ohio is a single-state metro here, so the licensing picture is straightforward — but the shape of Ohio's license is unusual enough to be worth reading carefully. Ohio licenses behavior analysts through the State Board of Psychology as a Certified Ohio Behavior Analyst, a credential established September 29, 2013 under ORC Chapter 4783. Most states that license behavior analysts do it either through a dedicated board or through a counseling board; Ohio put it under psychology. Your active BCBA is the qualifying credential for the COBA, and you hold both — the BCBA for insurance billing and national practice, the COBA for legal practice authority in Ohio. The COBA renews biennially by August 31 of even-numbered years, with 23 continuing education hours every two years.
The programs
Every one of the accredited BCBA programs in Columbus
1 programs
Ohio State University Online — Master of Educational Studies, Applied Behavior Analysis specialization
Columbus; delivered fully online · Columbus, OH · No commute; online delivery
- Tuition
- $894 per credit hour for all students, plus a $200 per semester distance surcharge for online-only out-of-state students
- Length
- 36 credits, 2 to 3 years part-time
- Format
- Fully online
- Accreditation
- ABAI-accredited at master's level through December 31, 2030; Ohio State College of Education and Human Ecology
- Part-time
- Designed around a 2 to 3 year part-time pace
- The only ABAI-accredited ABA master's in Ohio, re-accredited through December 31, 2030
- The official degree title is Master of Educational Studies, not M.A. — worth using the right name on applications and CVs
- A flat $894 per credit for everyone, with the $200 per semester distance surcharge replacing what would otherwise be a much higher out-of-state rate
- A Big Ten research university delivering an accredited program entirely online, which is rare
- First-attempt BCBA pass rate 44% in the BACB 2025 report (combined 2024-2025, 9 candidates) against a 51% national rate; ask the program about it
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Columbus while you study
Columbus is an inexpensive metro that has been getting less so. The BEA index puts the whole basket 4.5% below the national average and housing 12.1% below — still comfortably cheap, and a long way from where it sat a decade ago before the metro became one of the faster-growing in the Midwest. The practical advantage for a graduate student is that Ohio State's accredited program is online, so you can take it from a cheap place and work anywhere afterward.
Housing, 2024
87.9
12.1% below the national average
Everything, 2024
95.5
4.5% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$62,168
of national-average spending
Housing runs 12.1% 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 Columbus, OH, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
12.1% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024
All-items price level
4.5% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
Transit
COTA bus
Bus-only; Columbus is the largest US metro without a rail transit system
Car
Required for fieldwork
A ten-county metro with placements spread well beyond Franklin County
Tuition, Ohio State M.Ed.S. (all students)
$894 per credit hour
Plus a $200 per semester distance surcharge for online-only out-of-state students; 36 credits
Ohio COBA renewal
Biennial, by August 31 of even years
23 continuing education hours every two years
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Columbus: where metro students do supervised fieldwork
Columbus has the densest concentration of behavior-analytic institutions in Ohio, and the two that matter most sit within a few miles of one another. The Nisonger Center at Ohio State is the state's UCEDD and LEND program; Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the country. Below those, Ohio's county board system provides a public-sector layer that most states do not have.
OSU Nisonger Center
The Nisonger Center is Ohio's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and runs a LEND interdisciplinary training program, placing behavior analysts alongside pediatricians, psychologists and therapists.
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Nationwide Children's Hospital is among the largest pediatric hospitals in the United States, with developmental and behavioral health services at a scale few metros this size can match.
Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities
FCBDD is one of Ohio's 88 county boards of developmental disabilities — a county-level public authority that plans, funds and in part provides services, and a route into public employment with an Ohio pension.
Columbus City Schools and suburban districts
Columbus City Schools serves the urban core, and the northern suburban districts — Dublin, Westerville, Olentangy, Hilliard — run well-resourced special education programs.
Private ABA agencies across central Ohio
Providers funded through Ohio Medicaid and commercial insurance under the state's autism insurance mandate operate across the ten-county metro.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Columbus metro
Columbus is the rare metro where the top of the market is institutional rather than agency-led. Nationwide Children's and the Nisonger Center between them employ a significant number of behavior analysts in settings with academic affiliation, and Ohio's county boards add a public layer beneath. That structure tends to produce a stable market with a moderate ceiling, which is what the pay data shows.
OSU Nisonger Center
University center for developmental disabilities
Ohio's UCEDD and LEND program at Ohio State. A training destination first and an employer for interdisciplinary, research-affiliated work.
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Pediatric academic medical center
One of the largest children's hospitals in the country, with developmental and behavioral health services and research programs.
Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities
County board of developmental disabilities
One of Ohio's 88 county boards, a public authority for developmental disability services in the metro's core county.
Columbus City Schools
Public school district
The metro's largest district, employing behavior specialists across special education services with Ohio public pension membership.
Ohio State University
Public research university
Runs the state's only ABAI-accredited ABA master's and, through the Nisonger Center, its UCEDD and LEND programs.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Columbus metro
Metro median
$59,370
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$40,840
90th percentile
$88,500
BLS metro median, May 2025
$59,370
$20 above the national median
Cost of living, 2024
95.5
4.5% below the national average
Worth nationally
$62,168
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 4.5% below the national average, $59,370 here goes about as far as $62,168 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, Columbus, OH. 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 $59,370, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Columbus metro. That is $20 above the national median of $59,350 for the same code — level, to any practical purpose. 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 $59,370 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
The 10th percentile is $40,840 and the 90th is $88,500, a spread of $47,660 that sits in the middle of the range for this guide. Prices across the metro run 4.5% below the national average, so $59,370 goes about as far as $62,168 would nationally — better real pay than Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia or any of the California metros.
What Columbus offers that its pay figures do not capture is proximity to the institutions. The only ABAI-accredited program in the state, the state's UCEDD and LEND program, and one of the largest children's hospitals in the country are all here, and all three matter more to a career than a few thousand dollars of median. 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 is unusual in having three comparable metros and no dominant one. Cleveland and Cincinnati are each about two hours away, each with their own programs, and all three share the COBA credential.
ABA Programs in Cleveland
Two hours north, with a hybrid master's at John Carroll and an online certificate at Cleveland State.
ABA Programs in Cincinnati
Two hours southwest, with two online University of Cincinnati master's and a tri-state licensing problem.
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 Columbus?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Columbus?+
03Should the 44% pass rate put me off Ohio State's program?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Columbus?+
05Where do Columbus ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Columbus a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- Ohio State University Online, Master of Educational Studies with an Applied Behavior Analysis specialization
- The Ohio State University Nisonger Center (UCEDD/LEND)
- Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4783, Certified Ohio Behavior Analysts
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Columbus MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- Nationwide Children's Hospital
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory