Orlando City Guide
ABA Programs in Orlando
Orlando gives you a genuine choice that most metros do not: a small, accredited, evening-cohort private program at Rollins, or a large public university route through UCF at a third of the price. This guide covers both ABA programs in Orlando, why Florida asks for no state license at all, and what the metro actually pays once you look past the median.
Key Takeaways
- 01Rollins College's M.A. in Applied Behavior Analysis and Clinical Science is ABAI-accredited — the college describes it as one of a small number of accredited programs worldwide — and runs 45 credit hours as a cohort, in late afternoon and evening classes on the Winter Park campus.
- 02Rollins builds three semesters of practicum plus a thesis or capstone into the degree, so supervised experience accrues inside the program rather than alongside it.
- 03UCF's M.Ed. in Exceptional Student Education with an ABA track costs $370 per credit hour for Florida residents across 36 credits — roughly a third of the private alternative — and UCF runs a separate online graduate certificate in ABA.
- 04Florida 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.
- 05The metro median is $56,710 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018), below the national figure, with a 90th percentile of $84,950 — one of the lower ceilings in this guide, against housing 23.4% above the national average.
Orlando presents the clearest private-versus-public choice of any metro in this guide, because the two options are so different in almost every respect except what they lead to.
Rollins College runs a 45-credit M.A. in Applied Behavior Analysis and Clinical Science on its Winter Park campus, accredited by the ABAI Accreditation Board and taught as a cohort in late afternoon and evening classes. Three semesters of practicum and a thesis or capstone are inside the degree. It is small, structured and expensive, and it produces graduates with supervised experience already underway.
The University of Central Florida runs an M.Ed. in Exceptional Student Education with an Applied Behavior Analysis track at $370 per credit for Florida residents across 36 credits, with a separate online graduate certificate in ABA for people who already hold a qualifying master's. It is one of the largest universities in the country, the price is a third of the private route, and the degree reads as a special education credential to a school district — which is an advantage or a limitation depending on where you intend to work.
Florida, meanwhile, licenses nobody. The BCBA is the credential that matters, and the Geller Act and Florida Medicaid both write around it. That makes entry easy, which is good for a new graduate and part of why the metro's median sits below the national one.
Metro scope
Includes: Orlando, Kissimmee, Sanford, Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, Apopka, Winter Garden, Oviedo. The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro, covering Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties — the city and Winter Park at its core, the Seminole County suburbs north through Altamonte Springs and Sanford, and the Osceola growth corridor south through Kissimmee.
Note: No state line, and no state license. Florida does not license behavior analysts. There is no board, no application and no renewal: 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. The practical gatekeeper is payer credentialing. Two local features do shape the work: Orlando's service economy means a large share of families are on employer plans with high deductibles, and the Osceola and Lake county growth corridors have added population faster than provider capacity has followed.
The programs
Every one of the accredited BCBA programs in Orlando and the metro
2 programs
Rollins College — M.A. in Applied Behavior Analysis and Clinical Science
Winter Park campus, north of downtown Orlando · Winter Park, FL · On-campus; late afternoon and evening classes
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on the Rollins graduate tuition page; confirm the current ABACS rate
- Length
- 45 credit hours, cohort-based
- Format
- On-campus, with some classes in a blended design of up to 50% out-of-classroom time
- Accreditation
- ABAI-accredited at master's level; Rollins College
- Part-time
- Late afternoon and evening scheduling built for working professionals
- ABAI-accredited, which Rollins notes places it among a small number of accredited programs worldwide
- Three semesters of practicum are built into the degree, so supervised experience accrues alongside coursework
- A thesis or capstone project is required, which matters if a doctorate is anywhere in your plans
- Cohort-based with late afternoon and evening classes, so it works around a full-time behavior technician job
- Some courses use a reduced-seat-time blended design, with up to half the seat time out of the classroom
University of Central Florida — M.Ed. in Exceptional Student Education, Applied Behavior Analysis track
UCF main campus, east Orlando · Orlando, FL · On-campus; LYNX bus routes serve the campus
- Tuition
- $370 per credit hour for Florida residents, $1,276 per credit hour for non-residents
- Length
- 36 credits at a standard part-time pace, about 2 years
- Format
- On-campus M.Ed.; UCF also runs a separate online Graduate Certificate in ABA
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework; UCF College of Community Innovation and Education
- Part-time
- Part-time pacing is the standard route
- At $370 per credit for Florida residents this is one of the cheapest routes to BCBA eligibility in the state
- An M.Ed. in Exceptional Student Education, so the degree reads as a special education credential to a school district
- UCF also offers a standalone online Graduate Certificate in ABA for people who already hold a qualifying master's
- One of the largest universities in the United States by enrollment, with a correspondingly large placement network
- The non-resident rate of $1,276 per credit is nearly three and a half times the resident rate
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Orlando while you study
Orlando is an inexpensive metro with an expensive housing market, which is the Florida pattern generally. The BEA index puts the whole basket 1.4% above the national average and housing 23.4% above it. The metro is car-dependent in the way Sun Belt metros usually are, and its geography is unusually spread out — Osceola and Lake counties have absorbed a great deal of growth, and a caseload that reaches Kissimmee and Clermont covers real distance.
Housing, 2024
123.4
23.4% above the national average
Everything, 2024
101.4
1.4% above the national average
Metro median pay covers
$55,927
of national-average spending
Housing runs 23.4% 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 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
23.4% above the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024
All-items price level
1.4% above the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
Transit
LYNX bus and SunRail
SunRail runs the DeBary-to-Poinciana spine; useful for a downtown or UCF commute, not for a suburban caseload
Car
Effectively required
A four-county metro with fast-growing southern and western edges
Tuition, UCF M.Ed. (Florida resident)
$370 per credit hour
$1,276 per credit hour for non-residents; 36 credits
Tuition, Rollins M.A.
Published on the Rollins graduate tuition page
45 credit hours; confirm the current ABACS rate directly
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Orlando: where Central Florida students do supervised fieldwork
Central Florida's placement market is built on a very large children's hospital, four county school districts in a fast-growing metro, and a private agency layer funded by Florida's insurance mandate and Medicaid. Rollins solves part of the problem for its own students by embedding three semesters of practicum in the degree; UCF students arrange their own, which in a metro this size is manageable.
Rollins practicum placements
The Rollins ABACS curriculum includes three semesters of practicum inside the 45-credit degree, so supervised experience is part of the program rather than a separate project.
Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children
Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is the metro's pediatric hospital and the top of the local clinical tier.
Nemours Children's Hospital, Florida
Nemours Children's Hospital in Lake Nona runs pediatric specialty services including developmental and behavioral pediatrics.
Orange and Seminole county schools
Orange County Public Schools is one of the largest districts in the United States, and Seminole County Public Schools covers the northern suburbs; both host school-based placements.
Private ABA agencies across Central Florida
Providers funded through the Geller Act mandate and Florida Medicaid run in-home and center-based services across four counties, with the fastest growth in Osceola and Lake where population has outpaced capacity.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Orlando metro
Orlando's employer market is shaped by two things that are easy to miss. The first is the service economy: a metro built on hospitality employs a lot of people on plans with high deductibles, which affects how families access funded ABA hours. The second is growth — Osceola and Lake counties have added population faster than provider capacity, which creates genuine demand in places a new graduate might not think to look.
Orange County Public Schools
Public school district
One of the largest school districts in the United States, employing behavior specialists across its exceptional student education programs.
Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children
Pediatric hospital
The metro's long-established children's hospital, hiring into developmental and behavioral services.
Nemours Children's Hospital, Florida
Pediatric specialty hospital
A Lake Nona hospital within the Nemours system, running pediatric specialty and developmental services for Central Florida.
Seminole County Public Schools
Public school district
The metro's northern suburban district, consistently among Florida's higher-performing, with exceptional student education programs across the county.
Private ABA agencies in Osceola and Lake counties
Insurance- and Medicaid-funded providers
The fastest-growing part of the local market, where population growth has outpaced provider capacity and demand for credentialed clinicians is strongest.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro
Metro median
$56,710
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$39,580
90th percentile
$84,950
BLS metro median, May 2025
$56,710
$2,640 below the national median
Cost of living, 2024
101.4
1.4% above the national average
Worth nationally
$55,927
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 1.4% above the national average, $56,710 here goes about as far as $55,927 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, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, 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 $56,710, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro. That is $2,640 below 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 $56,710 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
The 10th percentile is $39,580 and the 90th is $84,950, a spread of $45,370 that is narrower than most metros in this guide. A compressed distribution with a below-national median is the signature of a market with easy entry and a lot of similar employers, which is what Florida's no-license, BACB-credentialed structure tends to produce.
On cost, prices run 1.4% above the national average, so $56,710 here is worth about $55,927 nationally. Housing runs 23.4% above national. The practical conclusion is that Orlando pays modestly and costs moderately, and the deciding variable is what you pay for the degree: UCF at $370 per credit for a Florida resident and the private alternative are not remotely the same financial proposition, and on a $56,710 median the difference matters more than it would in a higher-paying metro. 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
Central Florida is compact enough that Tampa is a genuine alternative rather than a different life, and the two metros have almost identical cost structures with different program mixes.
ABA Programs in Tampa
Ninety minutes west, where USF runs an ABAI-accredited campus M.S. at $431 per credit and a flat-rate online M.A.
ABA Programs in Jacksonville
North Florida, where UNF runs the metro's ABA offerings and the metro median runs higher than Orlando's.
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 Orlando?+
02Rollins or UCF — which should I choose?+
03Do I need a license to practice ABA in Orlando?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Orlando?+
05Where do Orlando ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Orlando a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- Rollins College, M.A. in Applied Behavior Analysis and Clinical Science
- Rollins College, ABACS curriculum
- University of Central Florida, M.Ed. in Exceptional Student Education, Applied Behavior Analysis track
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory