Riverside City Guide
ABA Programs in Riverside
Riverside-San Bernardino is the twelfth-largest metropolitan area in the country and not one university inside it runs an ABA master's. That is the fact this guide has to start with. What follows is the honest map: the four programs a person living in the Inland Empire can realistically reach, why California asks for no state license at all, and why the region employs far more behavior analysts than it trains.
Key Takeaways
- 01No university in the Inland Empire offers an ABA master's. For a metro of 4.7 million people that is unusual, and it is the single most useful thing to know before you start applying. Every route runs either online or over a county line.
- 02The nearest campus program is The Chicago School's M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis at its Anaheim campus, about thirty miles west of Corona on the 91. It also runs a post-master's ABA certificate at the same address.
- 03The strongest credential within reach is Cal State LA's 56-unit M.S., one of only two ABAI-accredited ABA master's programs in California, at CSU systemwide resident tuition. It is a cohort program in Los Angeles, so treat it as a commute rather than a local option.
- 04California asks for no state license. Your BCBA is the credential, SB 946 ties autism insurance coverage to it, and the practical gatekeeping happens through regional center vendorization and payer credentialing instead.
- 05The BLS reports a $57,880 median for SOC 21-1018 across the metro (May 2025), below the national median of $59,350 — but the 90th percentile is $103,450, one of the widest gaps between median and top decile in the country. The credentialed end of this market pays well; the category average drags it down.
Most city guides on this site open by counting the programs. Riverside gets a different opening, because the count is zero. No university in Riverside or San Bernardino county runs a master's degree in applied behavior analysis, and the Inland Empire is the largest American metropolitan area where that is true. Pretending otherwise would waste your time, so here is what actually exists instead.
Four routes are genuinely reachable. The Chicago School runs an M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis at its Anaheim campus, the closest classroom to the metro at roughly thirty miles from Corona. Cal State LA holds one of California's two ABAI accreditations at master's level and charges CSU resident tuition, which makes the drive worth considering. National University delivers a fully online M.S. with monthly start dates. And for anyone who already holds a qualifying master's, CSU San Marcos runs the coursework sequence on its own as an online certificate.
The mismatch between training and employment here is the point. The Inland Empire is one of the biggest autism-services markets in the West: the Inland Regional Center serves both counties, Corona-Norco and San Bernardino City are among the largest school districts in California, and the region has absorbed enormous population growth from people priced out of Los Angeles and Orange counties. The caseload is here. The classrooms are not. In practice that means a lot of Inland Empire behavior technicians study online while working, which the pay distribution rewards: the metro's 90th percentile for the occupation BCBAs are counted in runs $103,450, against a median of $57,880.
Metro scope
Includes: Riverside, San Bernardino, Ontario, Corona, Moreno Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Temecula. The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro, covering all of Riverside and San Bernardino counties — from Corona and Ontario on the Orange and Los Angeles county lines out through Moreno Valley and Temecula, and north across the high desert.
Note: There is no state line to cross here and no state license to hold. California does not license behavior analysts. There is no LBA, no state board, and no application: your BCBA from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board is the operative credential, and Senate Bill 946 ties insurance reimbursement for behavioral health treatment of autism to that certification rather than to a state license. What replaces licensure as the gatekeeper in California is the regional center system and payer credentialing, and in this metro that means the Inland Regional Center, which serves Riverside and San Bernardino counties and is one of the largest of California's twenty-one regional centers by caseload. The county line you should actually watch is the Orange County one: Anaheim is thirty miles from Corona and carries the nearest campus-based program.
The programs
The ABA programs Inland Empire students actually use
4 programs
The Chicago School, Anaheim — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Anaheim, Orange County · Anaheim, CA · About 30 miles west of Corona on the 91; the nearest classroom to the metro
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on The Chicago School's tuition page; confirm the Anaheim-campus rate before you apply
- Length
- Master's coursework plus field-based clinical training
- Format
- On-ground at 2400 E. Katella Ave.
- Accreditation
- BCBA coursework and practicum sequence; The Chicago School, Anaheim campus
- Part-time
- Cohort scheduling aimed at working behavior technicians
- The closest campus-based ABA master's to the Inland Empire, on the 91 corridor rather than the 60 or the 10
- The same campus also runs a Post-Master's Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis for people who already hold a qualifying degree
- The Chicago School holds ABAI accreditation at master's level for its Chicago program; the Anaheim campus is not in the ABAI accredited directory, so read the campus rather than the institution
- Orange County traffic is the real variable — the 91 between Corona and Anaheim is among the most congested stretches in the state at peak
- Worth weighing against Cal State LA, which is further but carries accreditation and public tuition
California State University, Los Angeles — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Los Angeles, about 55 miles west · Los Angeles, CA · A genuine commute; Metrolink San Bernardino Line runs to Cal State LA station
- Tuition
- $467 per credit hour at CSU systemwide graduate rates
- Length
- 56 units, 2 years as a cohort
- Format
- On-campus cohort, Monday and Wednesday schedule
- Accreditation
- ABAI-accredited at master's level (Pathway 1); Cal State LA Charter College of Education
- Part-time
- Cohort pacing with about 24 students per year
- One of only two ABAI-accredited ABA master's programs in California
- Public CSU pricing at roughly $467 per credit, far below the private options in the region
- The 56-unit count is the largest of the California programs, which is the trade for the accreditation and the cohort structure
- Metrolink's San Bernardino Line has a station at Cal State LA, which is the one realistic transit route from the Inland Empire
- Reported a 78% first-attempt BCBA pass rate in the BACB 2025 report (53% in 2024)
National University — M.S. in Applied Behavioral Analysis
Fully online · San Diego, CA · No commute; monthly cohort starts
- Tuition
- $464 per credit hour
- Length
- 30 semester credit hours across 10 courses, about 18 months
- Format
- Fully online, with on-campus delivery at selected California locations
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework; National University
- Part-time
- Monthly start dates built around working students
- Monthly start dates, so you are never more than four weeks from beginning
- At 30 credits it is among the shortest routes available to a California student
- National University is a California institution, which matters for anyone who wants in-state familiarity with regional center and school-district practice
- Reported a 35% first-attempt BCBA pass rate in the BACB 2025 report (424 candidates), well below the 51% national rate; worth asking the program about directly
- On-campus delivery exists at selected locations, but not inside the Inland Empire
California State University San Marcos — ABA Certificate of Advanced Study
Fully online through CSUSM Extended Learning · San Marcos, CA · No commute; online delivery
- Tuition
- $349 per credit hour through Extended Learning
- Length
- 21 units on the BCBA track, 18 on the BCaBA track
- Format
- Fully online
- Accreditation
- BACB-approved coursework sequence; CSUSM School of Education
- Part-time
- Designed for working professionals adding coursework to an existing degree
- The right route only if you already hold a qualifying master's and need the coursework alone
- Two tracks, one aimed at BCBA eligibility and one at BCaBA
- The cheapest CSU coursework sequence in Southern California at $349 per unit
- Does not by itself satisfy the BCBA degree requirement, only the coursework requirement
- Reported a 57% first-attempt BCBA pass rate in the BACB 2025 report
Cost of living
What it costs to live in the Inland Empire while you study
The Inland Empire is where Southern California became affordable, and the numbers still say so relative to Los Angeles and Orange counties — though "affordable" is doing a lot of work in a state where housing runs well above the national average everywhere. The real cost here is not rent, it is distance. This is a two-county metro roughly the size of some states, built entirely around driving, and a behavior analyst's billable day is decided by how many freeway miles sit between clients.
Housing, 2024
129.3
29.3% above the national average
Everything, 2024
106.4
6.4% above the national average
Metro median pay covers
$54,398
of national-average spending
Housing runs 29.3% 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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Transit
Metrolink and Omnitrans / RTA
Metrolink San Bernardino, Riverside and 91/Perris Valley lines reach LA and Orange counties; local bus coverage is thin
Car
Required, without qualification
In-home caseloads spread across two counties and several hundred square miles
Commute to the nearest classroom
About 30 miles
Corona to The Chicago School in Anaheim, on one of the most congested corridors in California
Tuition, Cal State LA M.S. (CSU rates)
$467 per credit hour
Public CSU systemwide graduate rate; 56 units
Tuition, CSU San Marcos certificate
$349 per credit hour
Extended Learning rate; 21 units on the BCBA track
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Riverside: where Inland Empire students do supervised fieldwork
Fieldwork supply here is the mirror image of program supply: there is a great deal of it. The Inland Regional Center vendorizes providers across both counties, the school districts are large and growing, and the region's agency layer has expanded with the population. What the metro lacks is the academic tier — there is no children's hospital of national scale inside it and no federally designated developmental disabilities center of its own, though UC Riverside participates in the University of California's LEND program alongside UCLA.
Inland Regional Center
Inland Regional Center coordinates services for people with developmental disabilities across Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and is one of the largest of California's twenty-one regional centers. Vendorized providers are where most Inland Empire fieldwork hours are actually logged.
UC-LEND through UC Riverside
UC-LEND is a joint UCLA and UC Riverside training program in neurodevelopmental disabilities, and the one federally funded interdisciplinary training route with a foothold in the Inland Empire.
Large public school districts
Corona-Norco Unified and San Bernardino City Unified are among the largest districts in California and host school-based placements across special education programs.
Vendorized ABA agencies
Agencies funded through the regional center and through commercial plans under SB 946 run in-home and center-based services across both counties. Vendorization status is the thing to ask about: it determines whether a site can bill regional center hours.
County behavioral health
Riverside University Health System — Behavioral Health and San Bernardino County Behavioral Health run public-sector services that intersect with developmental disability caseloads.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across Riverside and San Bernardino
This is an agency market. Without a dominant hospital system or university clinic, the Inland Empire's behavior analysts are concentrated in regional-center-vendorized providers, school districts and county behavioral health. That shapes the career ladder: advancement tends to run through case supervision and clinical direction inside agencies rather than through hospital or academic tracks.
Inland Regional Center
Regional center for developmental disabilities
Coordinates and funds services across Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Not usually the direct employer of behavior analysts, but the body whose vendorization decisions shape the entire provider market.
Corona-Norco Unified School District
Public school district
One of California's largest districts, on the Orange County edge of the metro. Employs behavior specialists across special education services.
San Bernardino City Unified School District
Public school district
A large urban district serving San Bernardino, with special education programs that host school-based fieldwork and employ behavior staff.
Riverside University Health System — Behavioral Health
County behavioral health system
Riverside County's public behavioral health provider, running services that overlap with developmental disability caseloads across the county.
Loma Linda University Health
Academic medical center
The metro's academic medical system, based in Loma Linda, and the nearest thing the Inland Empire has to a hospital-tier employer for developmental and behavioral services.
Side by side
Comparing the 4 Riverside programs
The same programs as above, set against each other on the things that decide which one you apply to: how it is delivered, how long it runs, what it costs, and whether it asks for the GRE.
| Program | Format | Length | Tuition | GRE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Chicago School, Anaheim — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis Anaheim, CA | On-ground at 2400 E. Katella Ave. | Master's coursework plus field-based clinical training | Published per-credit rates are on The Chicago School's tuition page; confirm the Anaheim-campus rate before you apply | Not required |
| California State University, Los Angeles — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis Los Angeles, CA | On-campus cohort, Monday and Wednesday schedule | 56 units, 2 years as a cohort | $467 per credit hour at CSU systemwide graduate rates | Not required |
| National University — M.S. in Applied Behavioral Analysis San Diego, CA | Fully online, with on-campus delivery at selected California locations | 30 semester credit hours across 10 courses, about 18 months | $464 per credit hour | Not required |
| California State University San Marcos — ABA Certificate of Advanced Study San Marcos, CA | Fully online | 21 units on the BCBA track, 18 on the BCaBA track | $349 per credit hour through Extended Learning | Not required |
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro
Metro median
$57,880
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$40,900
90th percentile
$103,450
BLS metro median, May 2025
$57,880
$1,470 below the national median
Cost of living, 2024
106.4
6.4% above the national average
Worth nationally
$54,398
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 6.4% above the national average, $57,880 here goes about as far as $54,398 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, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA. 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 $57,880, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro. That is $1,470 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 $57,880 as a floor for the metro rather than as BCBA pay.
The spread here is what makes the metro interesting. The 10th percentile is $40,900 and the 90th is $103,450 — a gap of more than $62,000, one of the widest in the country for this occupation. A wide spread in a category that mixes credential levels usually means the credential is doing real work, and that is the case here: master's-level, board-certified roles sit at the top of a distribution whose bottom is held down by positions that require neither. Prices across the metro run 6.4% above the national average, so $57,880 here goes about as far as $54,398 would nationally. Housing alone runs 29.3% above the national average, which is high by national standards and low by Californian ones.
The structural point for this metro: Inland Empire pay sits below Los Angeles and San Diego on the median but its top decile is competitive with both, and its housing costs are far lower than either. For someone who will reach the credentialed end of the distribution, the Inland Empire arithmetic is better than the headline suggests. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in California
We also cover 6 other metros in California. 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
Every alternative to the Inland Empire is a program-rich metro within two hours. Los Angeles has the deepest set of programs in the state, San Diego has the largest online providers headquartered in it, and both sit under the same California rules — no state license, SB 946 insurance coverage, and a regional center in place of a licensing board.
ABA Programs in Los Angeles
The deepest program market in California, including the ABAI-accredited Cal State LA master's, an hour west.
ABA Programs in San Diego
Where the largest online ABA providers are headquartered, plus a campus-based option and a CSU certificate.
ABA Programs in California
The full state picture: every California program, why the state licenses nobody, and how SB 946 works.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Riverside?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Riverside?+
03How much do BCBAs make in Riverside?+
04Where do Inland Empire ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
05Can I study ABA online while working as an RBT in the Inland Empire?+
06Why does the Inland Empire employ so many behavior analysts and train none?+
Sources
- The Chicago School, Anaheim campus (programs and address)
- Cal State LA, M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
- National University, M.S. in Applied Behavioral Analysis
- CSU San Marcos, ABA Certificate of Advanced Study
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- Inland Regional Center
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory