Kansas City Guide
ABA Programs in Kansas City
Kansas City has one of the highest ceilings and one of the lowest costs of any metro in this guide, and not one ABA master's inside the metro line. Both of those are worth knowing before you plan. This guide covers the programs Kansas City students actually use, the two state licenses the metro requires, and why an experienced behavior analyst does unusually well here.
Key Takeaways
- 01No ABA master's is based inside the metro line. The two routes Kansas City students use both sit just outside it: the University of Kansas in Lawrence, about 40 miles west, and the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, about 50 miles southeast. Both deliver online.
- 02KU is ABAI-accredited at master's and doctoral level and runs an online eight-course, 24-credit behavior analysis sequence that its department states will "fulfill the educational requirement to sit for the BCBA certification", alongside an online M.A. in Applied Behavioral Science.
- 03The University of Central Missouri runs its M.S. in Behavior Analysis fully online with two distinct options — one focused on autism spectrum disorder and one on behavior analysis therapy for conditions including head injury and intellectual disability.
- 04Two states, two licenses. Missouri since 2010, with a suicide-assessment continuing education requirement most states do not have; Kansas since 2014. No reciprocity between them.
- 05The 90th percentile here is $107,520 — the eighth-highest of the fifty metros in this guide — while the metro's overall price level is the third-lowest. That combination is rare.
Kansas City has the most interesting numbers of any Midwestern metro in this guide and the weakest local program supply. Both statements are true and they are connected in a way that works in a graduate's favor.
No university inside the metro line offers an ABA master's. What exists instead sits just beyond it. The University of Kansas, forty miles west in Lawrence, is ABAI-accredited at master's and doctoral level, and its Department of Applied Behavioral Science delivers an online M.A. in Applied Behavioral Science plus an online eight-course, 24-credit behavior analysis sequence that the department states will fulfill the educational requirement to sit for the BCBA. The University of Central Missouri, fifty miles southeast in Warrensburg, runs a fully online M.S. in Behavior Analysis with two options: an applied behavior analysis and autism spectrum disorder track, and a behavior analysis therapy track oriented toward behavioral medicine.
The employment picture is the reason to look here. Kansas City's 90th percentile for the occupation behavior analysts are counted in is $107,520, eighth-highest of the fifty metros on this site and ahead of Washington DC, Los Angeles and New York. Its overall price level is the third-lowest in this guide. An experienced, credentialed behavior analyst in Kansas City is in a better real position than one earning more in almost any coastal market. The metro also holds Missouri's federally designated developmental disabilities center at UMKC, and Children's Mercy is one of the larger pediatric systems in the country.
Metro scope
Includes: Kansas City, Overland Park, Olathe, Independence, Lee's Summit, Shawnee, Blue Springs, Liberty. The Kansas City metro, which straddles the state line — Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties in Missouri, and Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties in Kansas, taking in Overland Park, Olathe and Kansas City, Kansas on the western side.
Note: The state line runs through the middle of this metro and both states license behavior analysts, so two credentials is the normal situation rather than the exceptional one. Missouri licenses through the Missouri Behavior Analyst Advisory Board and has since 2010, with applications and renewals running through the MOPRO online system since January 2025, and a requirement for two hours of suicide assessment training at initial licensure and every biennial renewal under House Bill 1719. Kansas licenses through the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board and has since 2014. The two states have no reciprocity. Your BCBA carries across without rework, so what you duplicate is applications, fees and renewal dates — and in a metro where Overland Park is twenty minutes from downtown Kansas City, most clinicians end up holding both.
The programs
The ABA programs Kansas City students actually use
2 programs
University of Kansas — online behavior analysis programs
Lawrence, about 40 miles west; delivered online · Lawrence, KS · No commute; online delivery
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on the KU Online tuition page; confirm the current Applied Behavioral Science rate
- Length
- Online M.A. in Applied Behavioral Science, or an eight-course, 24-credit behavior analysis sequence across four consecutive semesters
- Format
- Online
- Accreditation
- ABAI-accredited at master's and doctoral level; KU Department of Applied Behavioral Science
- Part-time
- The course sequence is designed to run across four consecutive semesters alongside work
- KU is one of eleven institutions ABAI accredits at doctoral level and it is accredited at master's level too — the strongest credential available to a Kansas City student
- The department states its behavior analysis course sequence will "fulfill the educational requirement to sit for the BCBA certification"
- Eight three-credit courses, 24 credits in total, completable in four consecutive semesters
- KU also runs a 40-hour online Registered Behavior Technician preparation course, useful if you are starting from the technician level
- Lawrence is forty miles from downtown Kansas City, but the programs listed here are delivered online rather than on campus
University of Central Missouri — M.S. in Behavior Analysis
Warrensburg, about 50 miles southeast; delivered online · Warrensburg, MO · No commute; fully online
- Tuition
- UCM publishes an estimated program total on its program page; confirm the current figure with the university
- Length
- Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism Spectrum Disorder option, 42 credit hours
- Format
- Fully online
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework; UCM College of Education
- Part-time
- Built for working professionals across the Kansas City region
- The university states the program "prepares you to meet the educational requirements to be eligible to take the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) exam"
- Two distinct options: applied behavior analysis with autism spectrum disorder, and behavior analysis therapy oriented toward behavioral medicine including head injury and intellectual disability
- The behavioral medicine option is unusual — most programs are built almost entirely around autism services
- Fully online, which makes the fifty-mile distance irrelevant
- UCM's own pages give the credit count for the ABA and ASD option as both 42 and 36 in different places; confirm which applies to your intake
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Kansas City while you study
Kansas City is the third-cheapest metro in this guide on the BEA all-items index — 7.5% below the national average — with housing 13.4% below it. Combined with a 90th percentile of $107,520, that produces one of the better cost-to-ceiling ratios available anywhere. The complication is jurisdictional rather than financial: living in Overland Park and working in Kansas City, Missouri means two states for tax purposes and, if you practice on both sides, two licenses.
Housing, 2024
86.6
13.4% below the national average
Everything, 2024
92.5
7.5% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$65,611
of national-average spending
Housing runs 13.4% 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 Kansas City, MO-KS, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
All-items price level
7.5% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024 — third-lowest of the fifty metros here
Housing price level
13.4% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024
Transit
RideKC bus and streetcar
The streetcar serves the downtown corridor; a bi-state caseload needs a car
Car
Required for fieldwork
A seven-county metro split by a state line
Cross-border practice
Missouri and Kansas licenses
Missouri since 2010, Kansas since 2014, no reciprocity
Missouri CE requirement
2 hours suicide assessment training
At initial licensure and every biennial renewal, under House Bill 1719
Distance to the nearest program
40 to 50 miles
KU in Lawrence, UCM in Warrensburg — both deliver online
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Kansas City: where metro students do supervised fieldwork
For a metro with no local master's, Kansas City has a strong placement market. Missouri's federally designated University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities is here, at UMKC. The University of Kansas Medical Center on the Kansas side runs a LEND program. Children's Mercy is one of the larger pediatric systems in the country. And the Johnson County school districts are among the best-resourced in the Midwest.
UMKC Institute for Human Development
The UMKC Institute for Human Development is Missouri's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and runs a LEND program, based in Kansas City rather than in the state capital or at the flagship campus.
KU Medical Center: the Center for Child Health and Development
The Center for Child Health and Development at KU Medical Center, on the Kansas side of the metro, runs the Kansas LEND interdisciplinary training program.
Children's Mercy Kansas City
Children's Mercy Kansas City is the region's pediatric hospital system, with developmental and behavioral services across both sides of the state line.
Johnson County and Missouri-side districts
Blue Valley, Olathe and Shawnee Mission in Johnson County, Kansas, alongside Kansas City Public Schools and the Missouri suburban districts, host school-based placements.
Bi-state private agencies
Providers funded through Missouri and Kansas Medicaid and commercial insurance operate on both sides of the line, and many require clinicians to hold both state licenses.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Kansas City metro
Kansas City's employer market has an unusual balance for a metro this size: a UCEDD, a LEND program at a separate institution, a large pediatric health system, and school districts on both sides of a state line with different funding structures. That variety is the most plausible explanation for a 90th percentile of $107,520 in a metro with the third-lowest cost of living in this guide — several distinct employer types competing for a small pool of credentialed clinicians.
UMKC Institute for Human Development
University center for developmental disabilities
Missouri's UCEDD and LEND program, based in Kansas City. A training destination and an employer for research and policy-facing work.
Children's Mercy Kansas City
Pediatric health system
The region's children's hospital system, serving both sides of the state line, with developmental and behavioral services.
University of Kansas Medical Center
Academic medical center
On the Kansas side of the metro, running the Kansas LEND program through its Center for Child Health and Development.
Blue Valley School District
Public school district
One of the best-resourced districts in the Midwest, in Johnson County, Kansas, with substantial special education provision.
Kansas City Public Schools
Public school district
The Missouri-side urban district, employing behavior specialists across special education services.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Kansas City metro
Metro median
$60,690
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$39,650
90th percentile
$107,520
BLS metro median, May 2025
$60,690
$1,340 above the national median
Cost of living, 2024
92.5
7.5% below the national average
Worth nationally
$65,611
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 7.5% below the national average, $60,690 here goes about as far as $65,611 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, Kansas City, MO-KS. 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 $60,690, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Kansas City metro. That is $1,340 above 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 $60,690 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
The number to focus on is the top of the distribution. The 90th percentile is $107,520, the eighth-highest of the fifty metros on this site — ahead of Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Diego and New York. The 10th percentile is $39,650, so the spread is $67,870, the sixth-widest here. A wide spread in a low-cost metro means the credential is doing a great deal of work.
Then the adjustment. Prices across the metro run 7.5% below the national average, the third-lowest figure in this guide, so $60,690 goes about as far as $65,611 would nationally. Housing runs 13.4% below national. Put the two together and Kansas City offers a top decile competitive with the coastal markets at a cost base close to the cheapest in the country — which is the strongest case in this guide for an experienced behavior analyst who is genuinely free to choose. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Missouri
We also cover one other metro in Missouri. 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
The Missouri comparison is St. Louis at the other end of the state, under the same license and the same continuing education rule. Chicago and Minneapolis are the larger Midwestern markets.
ABA Programs in St. Louis
The other end of Missouri, with two in-metro programs, the same license, and housing 21% below the national average.
ABA Programs in Chicago
The Midwest's deepest program market, with an ABAI-accredited master's and a $114,770 top decile.
ABA Programs in Missouri
The full state picture: every Missouri program, MOPRO, and the suicide-assessment CE requirement.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Kansas City?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Kansas City?+
03How much do BCBAs make in Kansas City?+
04Why does Kansas City pay so well at the top of the distribution?+
05Where do Kansas City ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Kansas City a good place to build a BCBA career?+
Sources
- University of Central Missouri, M.S. in Behavior Analysis (ABA and Autism Spectrum Disorder option)
- University of Kansas, online programs in behavior analysis
- UMKC Institute for Human Development (UCEDD/LEND)
- Missouri Division of Professional Registration, Behavior Analyst Advisory Board
- Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Kansas City MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory