Pittsburgh City Guide
ABA Programs in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh has two ABA master's, the cheapest housing of any metro in this guide, and a licensing situation that is routinely misdescribed. Pennsylvania does not license behavior analysts; it licenses Behavior Specialists, which is a different credential with different rules. This guide covers both ABA programs in Pittsburgh, what the BSL actually is, and what the metro pays.
Key Takeaways
- 01The University of Pittsburgh runs a 33-credit M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis in person on its Pittsburgh campus, completable in 12 months full-time or 24 part-time, plus a separate ABA certificate for people who already hold a qualifying master's.
- 02Duquesne University runs a 39-credit online M.S.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis and a 21-credit, seven-course BCBA sequence for those who need coursework alone.
- 03Pennsylvania does not license behavior analysts. The Behavior Specialist License is a different credential, issued by the State Board of Medicine under Act 62 of 2008, and describing it as a behavior analyst license is a common and consequential error.
- 04Duquesne is explicit about the limits of its own program: the coursework "meets the criteria to apply for" the Behavior Specialist License, "however, the coursework may not meet all of the requirements for the certificate". Read that sentence before you assume the degree covers everything.
- 05Pittsburgh has the cheapest housing of any metro in this guide — 28% below the national average on the BEA index — which turns a $54,290 median into about $57,328 in national terms.
Two universities train behavior analysts in Pittsburgh, and they approach the same credential from opposite directions. The University of Pittsburgh School of Education runs a 33-credit M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis, taught in person, completable in twelve months full-time or twenty-four part-time, with a separate ABA certificate for people who already hold a BACB-approved master's. Duquesne University runs a 39-credit online M.S.Ed. and a 21-credit, seven-course BCBA coursework sequence. One is short and on campus; the other is longer and remote.
The thing most worth getting right in Pennsylvania is the credential. This state does not license behavior analysts. It licenses Behavior Specialists, under Act 62 of 2008, through the State Board of Medicine — a credential created for professionals providing behavioral services to children with autism, which a BCBA may qualify for but which is not the same thing. Both Pittsburgh programs describe their coursework in relation to the Behavior Specialist License, and Duquesne is commendably direct about the limits: its coursework "meets the criteria to apply for" the BSL, "however, the coursework may not meet all of the requirements for the certificate".
On money, Pittsburgh is the cheapest housing market of the fifty metros covered here — 28% below the national average — which does a great deal of work on a metro median of $54,290. Cost-adjusted, that becomes about $57,328, which is more real spending power than Boston, Philadelphia, Miami or New York deliver on considerably larger nominal salaries.
Metro scope
Includes: Pittsburgh, Monroeville, Bethel Park, Cranberry Township, McKeesport, Greensburg, Washington, Butler. The Pittsburgh metro, covering Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties — the city and its river valleys, the northern suburbs through Cranberry, the Mon Valley, and the outlying county seats at Greensburg, Washington and Butler.
Note: Pennsylvania is a single-state metro here, and the important point is about the credential rather than the border. Pennsylvania does not license behavior analysts. There is no LBA and no behavior analyst board: your BCBA from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board is your practice authority, and insurance and Medical Assistance credentialing determine who can bill. What Pennsylvania does license is the Behavior Specialist, a separate credential issued by the State Board of Medicine under Act 62 of 2008, aimed at professionals delivering behavioral services to children with autism. A BCBA may well qualify for the Behavior Specialist License, and both Pittsburgh programs note that their coursework maps onto it — but it is not a behavior analyst license and the two should not be treated as the same thing.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA programs in Pittsburgh
2 programs
University of Pittsburgh — M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Pitt campus, Oakland · Pittsburgh, PA · On-campus; Oakland is served by the Port Authority busway network
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on the Pitt School of Education tuition page; confirm the current M.Ed. rate
- Length
- 33 credits, 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time
- Format
- In person
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework and supervised practicum; Pitt School of Education
- Part-time
- A 24-month part-time track alongside the 12-month full-time one
- Twelve months full-time is among the fastest campus-based routes to a qualifying master's anywhere
- Thirty-three credits, six fewer than the Duquesne alternative
- Pitt states the program "fulfills the evidence-based coursework requirements of the Pennsylvania Behavior Specialist Licensure" and that coursework plus supervised practicum will prepare you to seek board certification
- A separate ABA certificate is available for people who already hold a BACB-approved master's degree
- Taught in person, so this is the option if you want faculty contact and a cohort rather than remote study
Duquesne University — M.S.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Bluff campus, downtown Pittsburgh; delivered online · Pittsburgh, PA · No commute; online delivery
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on the Duquesne School of Education tuition page; confirm the current M.S.Ed. rate
- Length
- 39 credit hours
- Format
- Online
- Accreditation
- BACB Pathway 2 coursework; Duquesne University School of Education
- Part-time
- Built for working professionals in schools, clinics and community settings
- Duquesne states the program "provides the coursework component for eligibility to take the BCBA Examination" and says plainly that field supervision is not provided by the program
- A 21-credit, seven-course BCBA sequence is available separately for people who already hold a qualifying master's
- The university notes the coursework meets the criteria for the Pennsylvania Behavior Specialist License but "may not meet all of the requirements" — a useful piece of candour
- At 39 credits it is six more than Pitt, and online rather than in person
- A private-university rate; weigh it against Pitt's public pricing for a shorter program
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Pittsburgh while you study
Pittsburgh has the cheapest housing of any metropolitan area covered on this site: 28% below the national average on the BEA index, and cheaper than Birmingham, Oklahoma City or Louisville. The whole basket runs 5.3% below national. That is the metro's defining economic feature for anyone at the start of a career, and it is why a median that looks low in nominal terms reads quite differently once adjusted.
Housing, 2024
72.0
28.0% below the national average
Everything, 2024
94.7
5.3% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$57,328
of national-average spending
Housing runs 28.0% 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 Pittsburgh, PA, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
28.0% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024 — the cheapest of the fifty metros in this guide
All-items price level
5.3% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
Transit
Pittsburgh Regional Transit light rail and busways
The busway network is unusually good for a metro this size; Oakland and downtown are well served
Car
Required for fieldwork
A seven-county metro of river valleys, where distance and terrain both slow travel
State credential
Behavior Specialist License
Act 62 of 2008, State Board of Medicine — not a behavior analyst license
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Pittsburgh: where metro students do supervised fieldwork
Pittsburgh's fieldwork market is anchored by one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the country and a LEND program at Pitt. What it does not have is a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities — Pennsylvania's sits at Temple in Philadelphia — so the interdisciplinary training route here runs through LEND rather than a UCEDD.
LEND Center of Pittsburgh
The LEND Center of Pittsburgh at the University of Pittsburgh is the region's federally funded interdisciplinary training program in neurodevelopmental and related disabilities.
UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is among the largest pediatric hospitals in the United States and the most competitive clinical placement in the metro.
Pittsburgh Public Schools and county districts
Pittsburgh Public Schools serves the city, and Allegheny County's many suburban districts plus the Allegheny Intermediate Unit host school-based placements across the region.
Allegheny Intermediate Unit
The Allegheny Intermediate Unit provides special education and support services to 42 suburban school districts, which makes it a single large route into school-based work rather than 42 separate ones.
Act 62 behavioral health providers
Pennsylvania's Act 62 autism insurance mandate and its Medical Assistance behavioral health programs fund a substantial agency layer across the seven-county metro.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Pittsburgh metro
Two structures shape employment here. UPMC is one of the largest health systems in the country and dominates the metro's clinical labor market in a way few systems do anywhere. And Pennsylvania's intermediate units — regional education agencies that provide special education services across groups of districts — mean school-based work is organized through a handful of large agencies rather than dozens of small ones.
UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Pediatric academic medical center
Among the largest pediatric hospitals in the United States, and part of a health system that dominates the regional clinical labor market.
LEND Center of Pittsburgh
Interdisciplinary training program
The University of Pittsburgh's federally funded LEND program, and the metro's route into research-affiliated and interdisciplinary practice.
Allegheny Intermediate Unit
Regional education agency
Provides special education and support services to 42 suburban districts across Allegheny County, employing behavior support staff at regional scale.
Pittsburgh Public Schools
Public school district
The city district, employing behavior specialists across special education services, with a school calendar and Pennsylvania public school retirement membership.
Act 62 and Medical Assistance providers
Insurance- and Medicaid-funded agencies
Pennsylvania's autism insurance mandate and its behavioral health Medical Assistance programs fund the agency layer across the seven-county metro.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Pittsburgh metro
Metro median
$54,290
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$36,420
90th percentile
$78,140
BLS metro median, May 2025
$54,290
$5,060 below the national median
Cost of living, 2024
94.7
5.3% below the national average
Worth nationally
$57,328
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 5.3% below the national average, $54,290 here goes about as far as $57,328 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, Pittsburgh, PA. 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 $54,290, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Pittsburgh metro. That is $5,060 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 $54,290 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
Cost is where Pittsburgh makes its case. Prices across the metro run 5.3% below the national average, so $54,290 goes about as far as $57,328 would nationally. Housing runs 28% below the national average — the cheapest figure in this guide. On that real basis Pittsburgh beats Philadelphia ($56,667), Boston ($57,368) and Miami ($50,166), and comfortably beats New York ($54,192) and Los Angeles ($45,695).
The weakness is the ceiling. The 90th percentile is $78,140, fourth-lowest of the fifty metros here, and the 10th is $36,420. This is a metro where the distribution sits low at both ends, and even generous cost adjustment cannot turn a $78,140 top decile into a high-earning career. The honest framing: Pittsburgh is inexpensive to live in and inexpensive to be paid in, and it works best for someone who values a low cost base over a high ceiling. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Pennsylvania
We also cover one other metro in Pennsylvania. 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
Pittsburgh sits between two different regulatory worlds: Ohio licenses through its psychology board an hour west, and Pennsylvania licenses nobody. That is worth weighing alongside the money.
ABA Programs in Cleveland
Two hours west, where Ohio licenses through its psychology board and the metro median runs $5,340 higher.
ABA Programs in Philadelphia
The other end of Pennsylvania, with the same Behavior Specialist framework, more programs and higher costs.
ABA Programs in Pennsylvania
The full state picture: every Pennsylvania program, the Behavior Specialist License, and why there is no behavior analyst license.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Pittsburgh?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Pittsburgh?+
03Does an ABA master's in Pittsburgh qualify me for the Behavior Specialist License?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Pittsburgh?+
05Where do Pittsburgh ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Pittsburgh a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- University of Pittsburgh School of Education, M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis
- University of Pittsburgh School of Education, Applied Behavior Analysis Certificate
- Duquesne University, M.S.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis
- Duquesne University, ABA course sequence for the BCBA exam
- LEND Center of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Pittsburgh MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory