Seattle City Guide
ABA Programs in Seattle
One university runs an ABA master's here, and it happens to be one of the strongest in the country. This guide covers the ABA programs in Seattle in full, the University of Washington's on-campus and online M.Ed. tracks, the state's three-tier LBA licensing system, the placement network behind them, and what BCBAs actually earn in the metro.
Key Takeaways
- 01The list of ABA programs in Seattle comes down to one master's degree: the University of Washington M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis, which runs in both on-campus and online tracks and holds ABAI Tier 2A recognition, the highest level short of full accreditation.
- 02The online track charges a flat $589/credit regardless of residency, which makes it cheaper than the on-campus out-of-state rate by a wide margin and is the reason out-of-state students often choose it over relocating.
- 03Washington licenses behavior analysts at three levels (LBA, LABA, CBT), and the requirement is already active. Your BCBA alone does not authorize practice here, unlike in Colorado today.
- 04The BLS reports a $73,580 median for the broad SOC 21-1018 category in the Seattle metro (May 2025) across 7,350 jobs, the highest of any metro we cover. BCBA-titled roles sit at the credentialed end of that category; the same release puts the metro 90th percentile at $114,400.
- 05Washington has no state income tax, so a Seattle salary takes home meaningfully more than the same number in Oregon or California.
If you are looking for ABA programs in Seattle, the list is short and the quality is high. The University of Washington College of Education runs the metro's only ABA master's, an M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis, in two tracks: a cohort-based on-campus program with field-based afternoons, and a synchronous online program that meets the same three evenings a week. Both hold ABAI Tier 2A recognition, and in the BACB 2025 report UW's two reported programs posted first-time BCBA pass rates of 89% and 93%, far above the 51% national rate.
The pricing quirk is worth catching before you apply. The on-campus program charges standard UW graduate tuition, roughly $620 per credit for Washington residents and about $1,120 for non-residents. The online program charges a flat $589 per credit for everyone. If you are out of state, the online track is not the compromise option, it is the substantially cheaper one, and it carries the same curriculum.
Where Seattle genuinely separates itself is licensure and placement. Washington already licenses behavior analysts at three levels through the Department of Health, so the credential path is more structured than in states where BACB certification is the whole story. And the fieldwork network, anchored by Seattle Children's Autism Center, the UW Autism Center, and the Haring Center for Inclusive Education, is unusually deep for a metro of this size. The offsetting reality is cost: Seattle is expensive, and a one-bedroom runs a median $1,916 a month.
Metro scope
Includes: Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett, Kent, Renton, Redmond. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro, running from Everett in the north through Seattle and the Eastside tech corridor (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland) down to Kent, Renton, and Tacoma in the south.
Note: Seattle is a single-state metro, so there is no cross-border licensing complication. What is unusual is Washington's licensing structure itself. The Washington Department of Health issues three separate ABA credentials rather than one: LBA (Licensed Behavior Analyst, master's plus BCBA), LABA (Licensed Assistant Behavior Analyst, bachelor's plus BCaBA), and CBT (Certified Behavior Technician, the RBT-equivalent tier). Unlike Colorado or Illinois, this is already in force, so factor the state application into your timeline from day one rather than treating the BCBA as the finish line.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA programs in Seattle and the metro
2 programs
University of Washington — M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis (On-Campus)
University District · Seattle, WA · Link light rail to U District or University of Washington station; heavily bus-served
- Tuition
- $21,387/year in-state; $38,616/year non-resident
- Length
- 67 credits, 2 years
- Format
- On-campus, field-based (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday afternoons)
- Accreditation
- ABAI Tier 2A Recognized; BCBA Pathway 2 coursework
- Part-time
- Cohort-paced; the online track is the flexible option
- ABAI Tier 2A recognition, the highest level short of full accreditation
- First-time BCBA pass rates of 89% and 93% for UW's two reported programs in the BACB 2025 report, against a 51% national rate
- Clinical partnerships with the Haring Center, UW Autism Center, and Seattle Children's Autism Center
- Cohort model of roughly 20 students a year, so faculty access is real rather than nominal
- ABA General Scholarship up to $8,000 and Fieldwork Scholarship up to $6,000 available
University of Washington — M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis (Online)
Online, UW-based · Seattle, WA · No commute; students arrange local fieldwork
- Tuition
- $589/credit hour, flat rate for residents and non-residents alike
- Length
- 56 to 62 credits, 2 to 3 years
- Format
- Synchronous online (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 5 PM Pacific) plus local fieldwork
- Accreditation
- ABAI Tier 2A Recognized; BCBA Pathway 2 coursework
- Part-time
- Choose a 2-year or 3-year pace depending on work commitments
- Flat $589/credit regardless of residency; about $34,800 total across the 59-credit program
- Substantially cheaper than the on-campus non-resident rate for the same curriculum
- Synchronous evening classes, so you get live instruction rather than recorded lectures
- Optional UW supervision package: 75 hours group plus 75 hours individual with a UW-affiliated BCBA
- You arrange your own local fieldwork site, which is the main thing to line up before enrolling
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Seattle while you study
Seattle is the most expensive metro on this site outside the California markets, and there is no way to frame that as a bargain. Two things soften it. Washington has no state income tax, which is worth several thousand dollars a year against an equivalent Oregon or California salary, and Seattle BCBA pay is correspondingly high. Link light rail keeps a car optional if you live and work along the spine, though most fieldwork means driving. Rent figures are Zumper medians as of August 4, 2026.
Housing, 2024
151.3
51.3% above the national average
Everything, 2024
111.1
11.1% above the national average
Metro median pay covers
$66,229
of national-average spending
Housing runs 51.3% 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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
1-BR rent, Seattle median
$1,916/mo
Zumper, August 2026
2-BR rent, Seattle median
$2,695/mo
Zumper, August 2026
1-BR rent, University District
Around the city median
Walk or one Link stop to the UW campus program
1-BR rent, Bellevue / Eastside
Above the Seattle median
Tech-salary market; strong district and agency employers
1-BR rent, Tacoma / south metro
Below the Seattle median
Cheapest end of the MSA; Sounder commuter rail into Seattle
King County Metro single ride
$3.00
Adult fare, effective September 2025
Monthly PugetPass
$108/mo
Unlimited regional transit at the $3.00 trip value
ORCA LIFT (income-qualified)
$1.00/ride
Income-based reduced fare; youth 18 and under ride free
State income tax
$0
Washington levies no personal income tax, which lifts take-home pay
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Seattle: where Seattle-area students do supervised fieldwork
Seattle's fieldwork network is the strongest argument for training here. UW runs two of the placement sites itself, and the third, Seattle Children's Autism Center, is university-affiliated. That means on-campus students get access to hospital-grade and research-grade placements without having to cold-call agencies, which is not how it works in most metros.
Seattle Children's Autism Center
Seattle Children's Autism Center is the region's primary pediatric autism service and a UW-affiliated placement site. Competitive, and the strongest hospital-based option in the Pacific Northwest.
UW Autism Center
The UW Autism Center provides clinical services and research training on campus, and is a standing practicum site for the M.Ed. program.
Haring Center for Inclusive Education
The Haring Center has run inclusive early childhood education and educator training at UW since 1964, and hosts practicum placements in inclusive classroom settings.
Seattle Public Schools and regional districts
Seattle Public Schools, plus Bellevue, Lake Washington, Kent, and Tacoma districts, host school-based fieldwork and employ behavior staff across special education programs.
Pediatric therapy clinics and nonprofits
Organizations such as Boyer Children's Clinic in Seattle and Encompass in the Snoqualmie Valley provide early intervention and pediatric therapy placements across the metro.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the Seattle metro
The Seattle BCBA market is anchored by Seattle Children's and the school districts, with a private-agency layer serving the metro from Everett to Tacoma. Eastside districts and agencies benefit from the tech-salary cost base, which tends to lift pay relative to the south end of the metro.
Seattle Children's Hospital
Pediatric academic medical center
Its Autism Center is the region's primary pediatric autism service and a UW-affiliated training site. Hospital roles pay well and carry strong benefits and loan-forgiveness eligibility.
University of Washington
Research university and clinical employer
Beyond the degree program, UW employs behavior analysts through the Autism Center and the Haring Center in clinical, research, and training roles.
Seattle Public Schools
Public school district
Employs behavior specialists and BCBAs across special education programs. District roles trade pay ceiling for a school calendar and state pension.
Boyer Children's Clinic
Nonprofit pediatric therapy
Long-running Seattle nonprofit serving young children with neuromuscular and developmental disabilities, including early intervention roles.
Encompass
Nonprofit early intervention and pediatric therapy
Snoqualmie Valley nonprofit providing pediatric therapy and early learning services on the eastern edge of the metro.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro
Metro median
$73,580
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$50,440
90th percentile
$114,400
BLS metro median, May 2025
$73,580
$14,230 above the national median
Cost of living, 2024
111.1
11.1% above the national average
Worth nationally
$66,229
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 11.1% above the national average, $73,580 here goes about as far as $66,229 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, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA. 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 $73,580, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro. That is $14,230 above the national median of $59,350 for the same code. BLS does not publish a separate occupation for behavior analysts, and SOC 21-1018 also contains counseling roles that do not require a master's degree plus board certification, so read $73,580 as a floor for the metro rather than as BCBA pay.
The same release puts the 10th percentile at $50,440 and the 90th at $114,400. Because BCBA-titled roles sit at the credentialed end of that category, the 90th percentile is the more useful marker for what an experienced behavior analyst earns here, and the median is the more useful one for what the wider category pays. Prices across the metro run 11.1% above the national average, so $73,580 here goes about as far as $66,229 would nationally. Housing on its own runs 51.3% above the national average.
Seattle posts the highest broad-category median of any metro on this site. Two structural factors support it: Washington levies no personal income tax, and the regional autism-services market is dominated by well-funded hospital and nonprofit providers rather than thin-margin agencies. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Washington
Seattle is currently the only Washington metro with its own guide. The state guide carries every program in Washington plus the licensure picture.
Nearby metros
If you are flexible on metro
If the ABA programs in Seattle do not fit, the nearest comparable options mean leaving the region, because Seattle dominates the Pacific Northwest market. Within Washington, Spokane has programs at Gonzaga and Whitworth at a much lower cost of living, and Tacoma sits inside the same metro with cheaper housing and the same license.
ABA Programs in Washington
Every program in the state, including the Spokane options, plus the full LBA, LABA, and CBT licensing breakdown.
ABA Programs in Los Angeles
The nearest West Coast metro with a deep multi-program market.
ABA Programs in Denver
A Mountain West alternative with much lower housing costs and a strong hospital placement tier.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Seattle?+
02What is the difference between UW's on-campus and online ABA programs?+
03Do I need a license to practice ABA in Seattle?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Seattle?+
05Where do Seattle ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Seattle a good city to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- UW College of Education, M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis (on-campus)
- UW College of Education, M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis (online)
- Washington State DOH, Applied Behavior Analysis licensing requirements
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- Seattle Children's Autism Center
- UW Autism Center
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory