Louisville City Guide
ABA Programs in Louisville
Louisville has a 30-credit online master's, the statewide autism training center Kentucky legislated into existence, one of the largest school districts in the country, and a state line running through the metro. This guide covers the ABA programs in Louisville, the two licenses a cross-river caseload needs, and what the pay figures look like once housing is accounted for.
Key Takeaways
- 01The University of Louisville runs a 30-credit online M.Ed. in Special Education combining autism spectrum disorder and applied behavior analysis, at a flat $850 per credit hour for residents and non-residents alike.
- 02Thirty credits is at the short end for a qualifying master's, and the flat rate means an out-of-state student pays the Kentucky price.
- 03The Kentucky Autism Training Center is based at the University of Louisville — a statewide center established by the legislature to provide training and technical assistance, which gives the metro a training resource that most cities this size do not have.
- 04Two states, two licenses. Kentucky since 2010, Indiana since 2021, with no reciprocity — and the Indiana side of the metro is minutes across the river.
- 05Housing here runs 21.4% below the national average, fourth-cheapest of the fifty metros in this guide, which turns a $50,970 median into about $54,748 in national terms.
Louisville is a one-program metro with a useful program and an unusual amount of state-level infrastructure attached to it. The University of Louisville's M.Ed. in Special Education pairs autism spectrum disorder with applied behavior analysis across 30 credits, delivered online at a flat $850 per credit hour for everyone regardless of residency. Thirty credits is at the short end for a qualifying master's, and the flat pricing makes it as attractive from out of state as from inside Kentucky.
The same university hosts the Kentucky Autism Training Center, a statewide body created by the legislature to provide training and technical assistance on autism across Kentucky. That is not a common arrangement — most states leave this function to a university center or a nonprofit — and it means Louisville has a permanent, publicly funded training presence in the field.
The metro's other defining features are its river and its district. The Ohio divides Louisville from southern Indiana, and both states license behavior analysts separately with no reciprocity, so a caseload including Jeffersonville or New Albany means two credentials. And Jefferson County Public Schools is one of the largest districts in the United States, covering the whole county — which makes school-based employment a matter of one employer rather than a dozen.
Metro scope
Includes: Louisville, Jeffersonville, New Albany, Clarksville, Shepherdsville, La Grange, Shelbyville, Radcliff. The Louisville/Jefferson County metro, which crosses the Ohio River into Indiana — Jefferson County and the Kentucky suburbs through Bullitt, Oldham and Shelby counties, plus the southern Indiana communities of Jeffersonville, New Albany and Clarksville on the north bank.
Note: The Ohio River divides this metro and both states license, which makes the bridges a professional boundary as well as a physical one. Kentucky licenses behavior analysts through the Kentucky Applied Behavior Analysis Licensing Board and has since 2010, among the earlier states. Indiana licenses through the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency and has only since 2021. There is no reciprocity, and Jeffersonville is a few minutes across the river from downtown Louisville — so a caseload that includes southern Indiana means two credentials. Your BCBA carries across both; the state applications, fees and renewal calendars do not.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA programs in Louisville and Kentucky
2 programs
University of Louisville — M.Ed. in Special Education: Autism Spectrum Disorder and Applied Behavior Analysis
Louisville; delivered online · Louisville, KY · No commute; online delivery with on-campus options
- Tuition
- $850 per credit hour, the same rate for residents and non-residents
- Length
- 30 credits, 2 years
- Format
- Online, with on-campus options
- Accreditation
- BACB-aligned coursework for BCBA Pathway 2; UofL College of Education and Human Development
- Part-time
- Built for practicing teachers and behavior technicians
- Thirty credits is at the short end for a qualifying master's and the shortest route in Kentucky
- A flat $850 per credit for everyone, so out-of-state students pay the Kentucky rate
- Combines autism spectrum disorder and applied behavior analysis rather than treating ABA as a concentration inside a general special education degree
- The same university hosts the Kentucky Autism Training Center, the state's legislatively established training and technical assistance body
- Not ABAI-accredited; no Kentucky program is
University of Kentucky — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Lexington, about 75 miles east · Lexington, KY · On-campus and online options; Lexington is 75 miles down I-64
- Tuition
- $826 per credit hour in-state, $2,061 per credit hour out-of-state
- Length
- 37 credits, 2 years
- Format
- On-campus with online options
- Accreditation
- BACB-aligned coursework for BCBA Pathway 2; UK College of Education
- Part-time
- Confirm pacing with the department
- A dedicated applied behavior analysis master's rather than a special education degree with an ABA component
- Housed at the university that also holds Kentucky's federally designated developmental disabilities center, the Human Development Institute
- Online options make the 75 miles from Louisville manageable
- The out-of-state rate of $2,061 per credit is two and a half times the resident figure — the steepest premium of any Kentucky program
- At 37 credits it is seven more than the Louisville route, so compare totals rather than per-credit rates
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Louisville while you study
Louisville is one of the cheaper metros in this guide: the BEA index puts the whole basket 6.9% below the national average and housing 21.4% below, fourth-cheapest of the fifty. Against a metro median of $50,970 that adjustment matters a great deal — it is most of the difference between a difficult salary and a workable one. The metro is compact and river-bounded, and the bridges to Indiana carry tolls on two of the crossings.
Housing, 2024
78.6
21.4% below the national average
Everything, 2024
93.1
6.9% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$54,748
of national-average spending
Housing runs 21.4% 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 Louisville/Jefferson County, 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
21.4% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024 — fourth-cheapest of the fifty metros here
All-items price level
6.9% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
Transit
TARC bus
Bus-only; the metro is a car proposition, though distances are short
Car
Required for fieldwork
A bi-state metro spanning the Ohio River, with tolls on two of the crossings
Cross-border practice
Kentucky and Indiana licenses
Kentucky since 2010, Indiana since 2021, no reciprocity
Tuition, University of Louisville M.Ed. (all students)
$850 per credit hour
Flat rate for residents and non-residents; 30 credits
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Louisville: where metro students do supervised fieldwork
Louisville's fieldwork market is anchored by a children's hospital, a very large county-wide district and the Kentucky Autism Training Center at the University of Louisville. Kentucky's federally designated developmental disabilities center is at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, 75 miles east, so the interdisciplinary research route means a drive.
Kentucky Autism Training Center
KATC at the University of Louisville is a statewide, legislatively established center providing training and technical assistance on autism across Kentucky.
Norton Children's Hospital
Norton Children's Hospital, affiliated with the University of Louisville School of Medicine, is the region's pediatric hospital and the top of the local clinical tier.
Jefferson County Public Schools
JCPS is one of the largest school districts in the United States and covers the whole county, which makes school-based work a matter of one very large employer.
UK Human Development Institute
The Human Development Institute at the University of Kentucky is the state's UCEDD and LEND program, 75 miles east in Lexington.
Kentucky and Indiana agencies
Providers funded through Kentucky Medicaid, Indiana Medicaid and commercial insurance operate on both sides of the river, and many require clinicians to hold both state licenses.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Louisville metro
The Louisville market has one dominant school employer, one dominant pediatric hospital and a private agency layer across two states. What it lacks is depth in the middle — there is no second children's hospital and no local UCEDD — so the career ladder tends to run through JCPS, Norton, or agency clinical direction rather than between competing institutions.
Jefferson County Public Schools
Public school district
One of the largest districts in the United States, covering the whole county, and the metro's dominant employer of school-based behavior support staff.
Norton Children's Hospital
Pediatric hospital
The region's children's hospital, affiliated with the University of Louisville School of Medicine, with developmental and behavioral services.
Kentucky Autism Training Center
Statewide training center
A legislatively established center at the University of Louisville providing autism training and technical assistance across Kentucky.
University of Louisville
Public research university
Runs the metro's ABA master's and hosts the Kentucky Autism Training Center, anchoring the local professional network.
Bi-state private ABA agencies
Medicaid- and insurance-funded providers
Providers operating across Kentucky and southern Indiana, many of which expect clinicians to hold both state licenses.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Louisville metro
Metro median
$50,970
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$37,530
90th percentile
$87,360
BLS metro median, May 2025
$50,970
$8,380 below the national median
Cost of living, 2024
93.1
6.9% below the national average
Worth nationally
$54,748
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 6.9% below the national average, $50,970 here goes about as far as $54,748 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, Louisville/Jefferson County, 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 $50,970, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Louisville/Jefferson County metro. That is $8,380 below the national median of $59,350 for the same code, and among the lowest figures 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 $50,970 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
Prices across the metro run 6.9% below the national average, so $50,970 goes about as far as $54,748 would nationally, and housing at 21.4% below national is the fourth-cheapest figure in this guide. That adjustment closes a meaningful part of the gap without eliminating it.
The 10th percentile is $37,530 and the 90th is $87,360, a spread of $49,830. The ceiling is more respectable than the median suggests, which means the credential does real work here — the difference between the middle of this distribution and the top is larger than the difference between Louisville's median and a better-paying metro's. For someone who expects to reach the upper part of the range, the low cost base makes the arithmetic considerably better than the headline. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Kentucky
Louisville is currently the only Kentucky metro with its own guide. The state guide carries every program in Kentucky plus the licensure picture.
Nearby metros
If you are flexible on metro
Louisville sits between three states' worth of alternatives. Cincinnati is ninety minutes northeast on I-71 and shares the Kentucky license on its southern side; Indianapolis is two hours north; Nashville is three hours south.
ABA Programs in Cincinnati
Ninety minutes northeast, with two online master's, a higher median, and a tri-state licensing problem that includes Kentucky.
ABA Programs in Indianapolis
Two hours north, in the Indiana licensing regime, with two programs and a similarly modest pay ceiling.
ABA Programs in Kentucky
The full state picture: every Kentucky program, the 2010 license, and the Human Development Institute in Lexington.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Louisville?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Louisville?+
03What is the Kentucky Autism Training Center?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Louisville?+
05Where do Louisville ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Louisville a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- University of Louisville, Master of Education in Special Education: Autism Spectrum Disorder and Applied Behavior Analysis
- Kentucky Autism Training Center, University of Louisville
- University of Kentucky Human Development Institute (UCEDD/LEND)
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Louisville/Jefferson County MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- Norton Children's Hospital
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory