Jacksonville City Guide
ABA Programs in Jacksonville
Jacksonville pays more than Miami, Tampa or Orlando and is the only Florida metro on this site above the national median — which is not what most people expect from the state's least-discussed large city. This guide covers the ABA programs in Jacksonville, why Florida asks for no state license at all, and the military and hospital caseloads that shape the market.
Key Takeaways
- 01Jacksonville's metro median of $61,260 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018) is the highest of Florida's four metros on this site — above Miami, Tampa and Orlando — and the only Florida figure here above the national median.
- 02The University of North Florida runs a 45-credit M.Ed. in Special Education with an Applied Behavior Analysis concentration, including twelve credits of practicum across four sequential courses.
- 03UNF also runs a 21-credit post-baccalaureate ABA certificate for people who already hold a qualifying master's and need only the coursework sequence.
- 04The M.Ed. admits as a fall-start cohort and UNF has posted intake pauses in the past, so confirm the current admissions cycle with the department rather than assuming the catalog listing means an open intake.
- 05Florida does not license behavior analysts. Your BCBA is the credential, and both the Geller Act and Florida Medicaid write their requirements around BACB certification rather than a state license.
Jacksonville is the Florida metro nobody compares themselves to, and on pay it is the one that wins. Its median for the occupation behavior analysts are counted in is $61,260 — higher than Miami, Tampa or Orlando, and the only Florida figure on this site above the national median of $59,350. Housing runs 9.8% above the national average, well below the 25.8% in Tampa or 55.6% in Miami.
Locally, education runs through one university. The University of North Florida runs a 45-credit M.Ed. in Special Education with an Applied Behavior Analysis concentration, structured as six credits of core, fifteen of major requirements, twelve of concentration and twelve of practicum across four sequential courses. That practicum weighting is unusually generous. UNF also runs a 21-credit post-baccalaureate ABA certificate for people who hold a qualifying master's already.
One caution about the M.Ed.: it admits as a fall-start cohort and UNF has posted pauses on that intake. The catalog listing does not by itself tell you whether applications are open for the coming cycle, so ask the department before you build a plan around it.
Florida, as everywhere in the state, licenses nobody. Your BCBA is the credential, the Geller Act ties insurance coverage to BACB certification, and payer credentialing rather than a board decides who can bill.
Metro scope
Includes: Jacksonville, Orange Park, St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Middleburg, Ponte Vedra Beach, Macclenny. The Jacksonville metro, covering Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Baker counties — the consolidated city of Jacksonville itself, which is one of the largest cities by land area in the United States, plus the beaches, the St. Johns County corridor south toward St. Augustine, and Clay County to the southwest.
Note: No state line inside the metro, and no state license either. Florida does not license behavior analysts. There is no board, no application and no renewal cycle: your BCBA from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board is the operative credential. The Steven A. Geller Autism Coverage Act ties insurance coverage for autism treatment to BACB credentials, and Florida Medicaid requires BCBA certification for behavior analysis services. Two local features matter more than a border would. Jacksonville is a consolidated city-county covering a very large land area, so a single-employer caseload can still involve substantial driving. And Naval Station Mayport and NAS Jacksonville put a meaningful TRICARE population into the metro, with the Autism Care Demonstration's own authorization and reporting rules attached.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA routes in Jacksonville
2 programs
University of North Florida — M.Ed. in Special Education: Applied Behavior Analysis
UNF campus, southeast Jacksonville · Jacksonville, FL · On-campus; the campus sits off J. Turner Butler Boulevard
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on the UNF student financial services page; confirm the current graduate rate
- Length
- 45 credits — 6 core, 15 major, 12 concentration and 12 practicum
- Format
- On-campus, admitted as a fall-start cohort
- Accreditation
- BACB-approved course sequence; UNF Silverfield College of Education and Human Services
- Part-time
- Cohort structure with four sequential practicum courses
- Twelve of the 45 credits are practicum, across four sequential courses — one of the heavier embedded-fieldwork weightings of any program in this guide
- Coursework spans single-case research design, behavioral intervention implementation, positive behavioral interventions and supports, and supervision and case management
- Admitted as a fall-start cohort, and UNF has posted intake pauses in the past — confirm the current cycle with the department before applying
- The only ABA master's in the Jacksonville metro
- An Exceptional Student Education framing, so the degree reads as a special education credential to a Florida district
University of North Florida — Applied Behavior Analysis (Post-Baccalaureate Certificate)
UNF campus, southeast Jacksonville · Jacksonville, FL · Coursework-only sequence; confirm delivery with the department
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on the UNF student financial services page; confirm the current graduate rate
- Length
- 21 credits
- Format
- Post-baccalaureate certificate
- Accreditation
- BACB-approved course sequence; UNF Silverfield College of Education and Human Services
- Part-time
- Designed for people adding coursework to a master's they already hold
- Seven courses, 21 credits, covering the behavior-analytic coursework sequence alone
- The right route only if you already hold a qualifying master's — a certificate satisfies the coursework requirement, not the degree requirement
- A far shorter commitment than the 45-credit M.Ed. for someone whose degree requirement is already met
- Supervised fieldwork is your own arrangement on this route, unlike the M.Ed. with its twelve embedded practicum credits
- Same faculty and same course sequence as the concentration inside the master's
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Jacksonville while you study
Jacksonville is the cheapest of Florida's big four on housing and the best paid, which is an unusual combination for any state. The BEA index puts housing 9.8% above the national average — against 23.4% in Orlando, 25.8% in Tampa and 55.6% in Miami — and the whole basket 0.5% below national. Florida levies no state income tax, which the price index does not capture. The metro's quirk is geography: Jacksonville is a consolidated city-county and one of the largest cities in the country by land area.
Housing, 2024
109.8
9.8% above the national average
Everything, 2024
99.5
0.5% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$61,568
of national-average spending
Housing runs 9.8% 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 Jacksonville, FL, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
9.8% above the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024 — the lowest of Florida's four metros in this guide
All-items price level
0.5% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
State income tax
None
Not captured by the price index, and worth real money on a professional salary
Transit
JTA bus and the Skyway
The Skyway serves downtown only; a five-county caseload is a car proposition
Car
Required for fieldwork
Jacksonville is a consolidated city-county and among the largest US cities by land area
Military caseloads
TRICARE Autism Care Demonstration
Naval Station Mayport and NAS Jacksonville put a meaningful TRICARE population in the metro
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Jacksonville: where North Florida students do supervised fieldwork
North Florida's placement market is anchored by two children's hospital services, a very large consolidated school district, and a TRICARE population from the two naval installations. The metro has no University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities — Florida's are at USF in Tampa and the University of Miami — so the research-affiliated route means traveling for it.
Wolfson Children's Hospital
Wolfson Children's Hospital, part of Baptist Health, is North Florida's children's hospital and the most competitive clinical placement in the metro.
Nemours Children's Health, Jacksonville
Nemours Children's Health runs pediatric specialty services in Jacksonville, giving the metro a second clinical route.
Duval County Public Schools
Duval County Public Schools is one of the larger districts in the United States and covers the whole consolidated city, so school-based work here means one very large employer.
UNF practicum placements
UNF's M.Ed. embeds twelve practicum credits across four sequential courses, so its students accrue supervised experience through the program.
TRICARE and Geller Act providers
Agencies serving military families under the Autism Care Demonstration, alongside providers funded through the Geller Act mandate and Florida Medicaid, make up the private layer across five counties.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Jacksonville metro
Jacksonville's market has a shape that probably explains its pay advantage over the rest of Florida. Duval County Public Schools is a single very large district covering the consolidated city, two separate children's hospital services compete for clinical staff, and a TRICARE population adds a payer that pays on its own schedule. Fewer, larger employers competing for a smaller credentialed workforce is a plausible mechanism for a higher median than Miami or Tampa manage.
Wolfson Children's Hospital
Pediatric hospital
Part of Baptist Health and North Florida's children's hospital, hiring into developmental and behavioral services.
Nemours Children's Health, Jacksonville
Pediatric specialty health system
The metro's second pediatric route, running specialty and developmental services within the Nemours system.
Duval County Public Schools
Public school district
One of the larger districts in the United States, covering the entire consolidated city, and the metro's dominant school-based employer.
University of North Florida
Public university
Runs the metro's only ABA master's and its post-baccalaureate certificate, and anchors the local supervision network.
TRICARE and Geller Act providers
Private agencies
Agencies serving military families under the Autism Care Demonstration and commercially insured families under Florida's autism mandate.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Jacksonville metro
Metro median
$61,260
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$40,690
90th percentile
$95,050
BLS metro median, May 2025
$61,260
$1,910 above the national median
Cost of living, 2024
99.5
0.5% below the national average
Worth nationally
$61,568
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 0.5% below the national average, $61,260 here goes about as far as $61,568 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, Jacksonville, FL. 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 $61,260, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Jacksonville metro. That is $1,910 above the national median of $59,350 for the same code — and the highest of Florida's four metros on this site, ahead of Miami ($57,290), Orlando ($56,710) and Tampa ($55,570). 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 $61,260 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
The 10th percentile is $40,690 and the 90th is $95,050. Prices across the metro run 0.5% below the national average, so $61,260 goes about as far as $61,568 would nationally — Jacksonville is one of the few metros in this guide where the cost adjustment moves the figure up rather than down. Housing runs 9.8% above national, the lowest of Florida's big four by a wide margin.
Put the Florida comparison in one line: Jacksonville pays $5,690 more than Tampa and its housing costs 16 index points less. For anyone weighing Florida metros on financial grounds rather than on programs, that is the finding that matters. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Florida
We also cover 3 other metros in Florida. 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
Florida's programs cluster in the center and south of the state, so the trade-off from Jacksonville is education against money. Orlando and Tampa both have more programs and both pay less.
ABA Programs in Orlando
Two hours south, with an ABAI-accredited program at Rollins and a public route at UCF, paying $4,550 less.
ABA Programs in Tampa
Where USF runs an ABAI-accredited campus M.S. at $431 per credit — the strongest Florida credential, in the lowest-paying Florida metro.
ABA Programs in Florida
The full state picture: every Florida program, why the state licenses nobody, and how the Geller Act works.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Jacksonville?+
02Is UNF's ABA master's accepting applications?+
03Do I need a license to practice ABA in Jacksonville?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Jacksonville?+
05Why does Jacksonville pay more than Miami, Tampa or Orlando?+
06Is Jacksonville a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- University of North Florida, M.Ed. in Special Education: Applied Behavior Analysis (catalog)
- University of North Florida, Applied Behavior Analysis (Post-Baccalaureate Certificate)
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Jacksonville MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- Wolfson Children's Hospital, Baptist Health
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory