Memphis City Guide
ABA Programs in Memphis
Memphis pays the lowest behavior analyst median of any metro in this guide, and it holds Tennessee's federally designated developmental disabilities center, a major children's hospital and one of the best-known pediatric research institutions in the world. This page puts those facts next to each other rather than choosing one.
Key Takeaways
- 01The University of Memphis runs a 36-credit campus-based M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis at $678 per credit hour in-state — the metro's only qualifying master's.
- 02Tennessee's federally designated developmental disabilities center is here rather than in Nashville: the University of Tennessee Center on Developmental Disabilities at UTHSC holds the UCEDD designation and runs a LEND program in Memphis.
- 03Three states meet in this metro and all three regulate: Tennessee since 2014, Mississippi since 2015, Arkansas by registration since 2025. Southaven is fifteen minutes from downtown.
- 04Memphis has the lowest figures in this guide at every point in the distribution — a $50,260 median, a $34,110 tenth percentile and a $73,170 ninetieth. No other metro here is lowest on all three.
- 05Costs offset part of that: prices run 7.8% below the national average and housing 20.2% below, so the median is worth about $54,512 nationally.
Memphis presents two facts that sit awkwardly together, and both belong on this page.
The first is that its clinical and research standing is genuinely high. The University of Tennessee Center on Developmental Disabilities at the Health Science Center holds Tennessee's federally designated UCEDD designation and runs a LEND program — and it is in Memphis, not Nashville. Le Bonheur Children's Hospital is one of the larger pediatric hospitals in the South, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a few blocks away. The University of Memphis runs a 36-credit campus-based M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis at $678 per credit in-state.
The second is that Memphis pays less than any other metro in this guide, and it does so at every point in the distribution: the lowest median at $50,260, the lowest tenth percentile at $34,110, and the lowest ninetieth at $73,170. Most low-paying metros are low at one end and ordinary at another. Memphis is not.
The cost adjustment is real and it is not a solution. Prices run 7.8% below the national average and housing 20.2% below, which lifts the median to about $54,512 in national terms. That is still the fourth-lowest real figure in this guide. What Memphis offers is training and clinical experience of a quality its pay does not reflect — and, with three states meeting in the metro, a licensing overhead on top.
Metro scope
Includes: Memphis, Bartlett, Germantown, Collierville, Southaven, Olive Branch, Horn Lake, West Memphis. The Memphis metro, which spans three states — Shelby, Tipton and Fayette counties in Tennessee, DeSoto, Marshall, Tate and Tunica counties in Mississippi, and Crittenden County in Arkansas across the river at West Memphis.
Note: Very few American metros touch three states, and all three of these regulate behavior analysts. Tennessee licenses through the Applied Behavior Analyst Licensing Committee and has since 2014, with 32 continuing education hours required every two years. Mississippi licenses through the Mississippi Autism Board and has since 2015. Arkansas introduced behavior analyst registration in 2025, the newest arrangement of the three. None recognizes the others. Southaven, Mississippi is fifteen minutes from downtown Memphis and West Memphis, Arkansas is across the bridge, so a regional caseload here can mean three separate credentials.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA programs in Memphis
1 programs
University of Memphis — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
University of Memphis campus, east Memphis · Memphis, TN · On-campus; MATA bus routes serve the campus
- Tuition
- $678 per credit hour in-state, $914 per credit hour out-of-state
- Length
- 36 credits, 2 years
- Format
- On-campus
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework; University of Memphis Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership
- Part-time
- Confirm pacing with the department; the default is a two-year sequence
- The only qualifying ABA master's in the Memphis metro
- A dedicated applied behavior analysis degree rather than a special education program with a concentration
- The out-of-state premium is modest at $914 per credit, which keeps it viable from Mississippi and Arkansas
- Campus-based, which gives faculty contact and a cohort in a metro where the professional network is small
- Not ABAI-accredited; no Tennessee program is
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Memphis while you study
Memphis is inexpensive across the board: the BEA index puts the whole basket 7.8% below the national average and housing 20.2% below. Against the lowest pay figures in this guide, those savings matter more here than in most metros, and they do not fully close the gap. Tennessee levies no state income tax, which the price index does not capture and which is worth real money. The three-state geography adds travel and, if your caseload crosses, paperwork.
Housing, 2024
79.8
20.2% below the national average
Everything, 2024
92.2
7.8% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$54,512
of national-average spending
Housing runs 20.2% 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 Memphis, TN-MS-AR, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
20.2% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024
All-items price level
7.8% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
State income tax
None in Tennessee
Not captured by the price index; Mississippi and Arkansas do levy one
Transit
MATA bus and the Main Street trolley
Limited; a three-state metro is a car proposition
Cross-border practice
Three states, three credentials
Tennessee (2014), Mississippi (2015), Arkansas registration (2025), none reciprocal
Tuition, University of Memphis M.S. (in-state)
$678 per credit hour
$914 per credit hour out-of-state; 36 credits
Tennessee CE requirement
32 hours every two years
At the heavier end of state continuing education requirements
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Memphis: where Mid-South students do supervised fieldwork
Memphis has a clinical and research tier that its pay figures give no hint of. Tennessee's UCEDD and a LEND program are at the Health Science Center here, Le Bonheur is one of the South's larger pediatric hospitals, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital sits in the medical district. For a trainee, the quality of exposure available in this metro is well above what a metro of 1.3 million usually offers.
University of Tennessee Center on Developmental Disabilities
The Center on Developmental Disabilities at UTHSC is Tennessee's federally designated UCEDD and runs a LEND interdisciplinary training program — in Memphis rather than Nashville.
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, part of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and affiliated with UTHSC, is one of the larger pediatric hospitals in the South.
The Memphis medical district
Le Bonheur, UTHSC and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital sit within a few blocks of each other, which concentrates the metro's pediatric clinical and research capacity into one district.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools
Memphis-Shelby County Schools is one of the largest districts in the Southeast, and the suburban municipal districts — Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett — add several more.
Three-state agency providers
Providers funded through TennCare, Mississippi Medicaid, Arkansas Medicaid and commercial insurance operate across the metro, and many expect clinicians to hold more than one state credential.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Memphis metro
Memphis has a strong institutional top and a thin middle. The medical district — UTHSC, Le Bonheur and St. Jude within a few blocks — concentrates the region's pediatric capacity, and Memphis-Shelby County Schools is a very large public employer. Between them, the private agency market operates across three states with three regulatory regimes, which adds cost for providers and is one plausible reason rates sit where they do.
University of Tennessee Center on Developmental Disabilities
University center for developmental disabilities
Tennessee's UCEDD and a LEND program, at the Health Science Center in Memphis. A training destination and a research employer.
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
Pediatric hospital
Part of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and affiliated with UTHSC, and the region's pediatric clinical anchor.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools
Public school district
One of the largest districts in the Southeast, employing behavior specialists across special education services with Tennessee public pension membership.
University of Memphis
Public research university
Runs the metro's only qualifying ABA master's and anchors the local supervision and professional network.
Three-state private agencies
Medicaid- and insurance-funded providers
Providers operating across Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, often requiring clinicians to hold more than one state credential.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Memphis metro
Metro median
$50,260
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$34,110
90th percentile
$73,170
BLS metro median, May 2025
$50,260
$9,090 below the national median
Cost of living, 2024
92.2
7.8% below the national average
Worth nationally
$54,512
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 7.8% below the national average, $50,260 here goes about as far as $54,512 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, Memphis, TN-MS-AR. 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 $50,260, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Memphis metro. That is $9,090 below the national median of $59,350 for the same code, and the lowest 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 $50,260 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
Memphis is also lowest at the other two points this guide tracks: a 10th percentile of $34,110 and a 90th of $73,170, both the lowest of the fifty metros here. No other metro in this guide holds the bottom position on all three measures. That matters for interpretation — a low median with a healthy ceiling means the credential pays off; a low median with the lowest ceiling means the whole distribution sits low.
The cost adjustment does real work without changing the conclusion. Prices run 7.8% below the national average and housing 20.2% below, so $50,260 goes about as far as $54,512 would nationally, and Tennessee levies no state income tax. That is a meaningful improvement and it still leaves Memphis in the bottom handful on real terms. What the metro offers instead is clinical and research exposure — a UCEDD, a LEND program, Le Bonheur and St. Jude in one medical district — that is worth a great deal early in a career and can be carried elsewhere. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Tennessee
We also cover one other metro in Tennessee. 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
Nashville is three hours east under the same Tennessee license and pays only marginally more. The larger regional markets are St. Louis and Birmingham, both with lower costs and different regulatory regimes.
ABA Programs in Nashville
Three hours east under the same license, with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and the second-lowest median in this guide.
ABA Programs in St. Louis
Four hours north, with two programs, a higher median, and the third-cheapest housing in this guide.
ABA Programs in Tennessee
The full state picture: every Tennessee program, the 2014 license, and the 32-hour CE requirement.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Memphis?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Memphis?+
03How much do BCBAs make in Memphis?+
04Is the Memphis clinical training as good as the pay is low?+
05Where do Memphis ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Memphis a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- University of Memphis, M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
- University of Tennessee Center on Developmental Disabilities, UTHSC (UCEDD/LEND)
- Tennessee Applied Behavior Analyst Licensing Committee
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Memphis MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory