Tampa City Guide
ABA Programs in Tampa
Tampa is a one-university town for behavior analysis, and the university in question runs an ABAI-accredited master's, a separate online master's, and Florida's federally designated developmental disabilities center. This guide covers both ABA programs in Tampa, why Florida asks for no state license at all, and why the metro pays below the national median while costing about the national average.
Key Takeaways
- 01USF's campus M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis is ABAI-accredited through December 31, 2028, runs 45 credits over five semesters, and costs $431 per credit hour for Florida residents — one of the cheapest accredited routes in the country.
- 02USF also runs a separate online M.A. at a flat $600 per credit, $25,200 for 42 credits, charged identically to in-state, out-of-state and international students. These are two different programs at two different prices and they are frequently confused.
- 03The campus M.S. is built across three USF colleges, which is unusual: behavior analysis taught as an interdisciplinary degree rather than inside one department.
- 04Florida does not license behavior analysts. Your BCBA is the credential, the Geller Act ties insurance coverage to BACB certification, and Florida Medicaid requires it for behavior analysis services.
- 05The metro median is $55,570 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018), below the national figure, against an overall price level within 1% of the national average. Housing runs 25.8% above national, which is the pressure point.
Behavior analysis in Tampa means the University of South Florida. USF runs two master's programs, hosts Florida's federally designated University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, and supplies most of the metro's credentialed workforce. There is no second university with an ABA program in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco or Hernando county.
The two USF programs are genuinely different and the difference is worth getting right before you apply, because the site has seen these two conflated repeatedly. The campus M.S. is the ABAI-accredited one, accredited through December 31, 2028, running 45 credits across five semesters at $431.43 per credit for Florida residents and $994.29 for non-residents. It is taught across three USF colleges. The online M.A. is a separate 41 to 42-credit program delivered by evening synchronous sessions, and USF charges every student the same $600 per credit — $25,200 for the program — whether they live in Florida, elsewhere in the United States, or abroad. The online program does not carry the campus program's accreditation.
Florida, meanwhile, is one of ten jurisdictions that does not license behavior analysts at all. The credential that matters is the BCBA, and both the state's autism insurance mandate and its Medicaid programs are written around BACB certification rather than a state license. That removes a step other states impose — and it makes payer credentialing, rather than a board, the thing that decides who can bill.
Metro scope
Includes: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Largo, Palm Harbor, Wesley Chapel, Plant City. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro, covering Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties — Tampa and its eastern suburbs, the Pinellas peninsula through St. Petersburg and Clearwater, and the northern growth corridor into Pasco.
Note: No state line here, and no state license either. Florida does not license behavior analysts. There is no LBA, no board and no renewal cycle: your BCBA from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board is the operative credential, and the Steven A. Geller Autism Coverage Act ties insurance coverage for autism treatment to BACB credentials rather than to a state license. Florida Medicaid also requires BCBA certification for behavior analysis services. One historical point worth knowing because it still appears on old forms: the FL-CBA designation is a pre-2003 legacy Florida credential, not a license, and it is not something a new practitioner obtains. What gates practice here is payer credentialing, not the state.
The programs
Every one of the accredited BCBA programs in Tampa
2 programs
University of South Florida — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis (campus)
USF Tampa campus, north Tampa · Tampa, FL · On-campus; HART bus routes serve the campus from downtown
- Tuition
- $431.43 per credit hour for Florida residents, $994.29 per credit hour for non-residents
- Length
- 45 credits across 5 semesters
- Format
- On-campus, interdisciplinary across three USF colleges
- Accreditation
- ABAI-accredited at master's level through December 31, 2028; USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences
- Part-time
- Five-semester lockstep sequence
- ABAI-accredited through December 31, 2028, and the only accredited ABA master's in the Tampa Bay area
- At $431.43 per credit for Florida residents this is among the cheapest accredited routes to the BCBA anywhere in the country
- Built across three USF colleges, so the degree is interdisciplinary rather than housed in a single department
- Five semesters in a set sequence, which gives structure but little flexibility if your circumstances change
- The non-resident rate of $994.29 is more than double the resident rate — if you are moving to Florida, establish residency first
University of South Florida — Online M.A. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Fully online, evening synchronous sessions · Tampa, FL · No commute; live evening classes
- Tuition
- $600 per credit, $25,200 total for 42 credits, charged identically to in-state, out-of-state and international students
- Length
- 41 to 42 credits across 5 consecutive semesters
- Format
- Fully online with evening synchronous sessions
- Accreditation
- BCBA Pathway 2 coursework; USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences
- Part-time
- Evening delivery designed for people working as behavior technicians
- One price for everyone: $25,200 for the program regardless of residency, which is unusual and makes it attractive from out of state
- Evening synchronous sessions mean live teaching and a cohort, not recorded lectures
- A different program from the campus M.S. — it is not covered by that program's ABAI accreditation, and the two are often confused
- Five consecutive semesters, so the sequence assumes continuous enrollment
- For a Florida resident the campus M.S. is cheaper per credit; for anyone else this is the better deal
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Tampa Bay while you study
Tampa Bay is a metro whose overall cost sits within a percentage point of the national average while its housing does not. The BEA index puts the whole basket 0.9% above national and housing 25.8% above — the legacy of a decade in which Florida absorbed a great deal of migration. Combined with a metro median below the national figure, that produces the central financial tension of working here.
Housing, 2024
125.8
25.8% above the national average
Everything, 2024
100.9
0.9% above the national average
Metro median pay covers
$55,074
of national-average spending
Housing runs 25.8% 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 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
25.8% above the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024
All-items price level
0.9% above the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024; effectively level
Transit
HART and PSTA bus, TECO streetcar
Bus-based, with two separate county systems across the bay; not a basis for a regional caseload
Car
Effectively required
A four-county metro split by Tampa Bay, so a cross-bay caseload means bridge crossings
Tuition, USF campus M.S. (Florida resident)
$431.43 per credit hour
$994.29 per credit hour for non-residents; 45 credits
Tuition, USF online M.A. (all students)
$600 per credit, $25,200 total
Identical for in-state, out-of-state and international students; 42 credits
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Tampa: where Tampa Bay students do supervised fieldwork
Tampa Bay's fieldwork market is anchored by USF twice over: the programs supply the trainees, and the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities on the same campus is the state's federally designated UCEDD. Around that sit two children's hospital systems, four county school districts including one of the largest in the country, and a substantial private agency layer supported by Florida's autism insurance mandate.
Florida Center for Inclusive Communities
The Florida Center for Inclusive Communities at USF is Florida's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, based on the Tampa campus and working across research, training and community services.
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg is the region's pediatric academic medical center and the most competitive clinical placement on the Pinellas side of the bay.
Hillsborough and Pinellas county schools
Hillsborough County Public Schools is one of the largest districts in the United States, and Pinellas County Schools serves the peninsula; both host school-based placements.
Tampa General and BayCare
Tampa General Hospital and the BayCare system cover the adult and general health side, with behavioral health services that intersect with developmental disability caseloads.
Private ABA agencies
Florida's Geller Act insurance mandate and Medicaid behavior analysis benefit support a large agency layer across the four counties, running in-home, center-based and school-consultation services.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay has one of the larger private ABA agency markets in the Southeast, and that is a direct consequence of how Florida funds the work. With no state license to hold, entry is governed by payer credentialing, and both the Geller Act and Florida Medicaid write their requirements around BACB certification. The effect is a market that is easy to enter and competitive on price, which the pay figures reflect.
Florida Center for Inclusive Communities
University center for developmental disabilities
Florida's UCEDD, based at USF in Tampa. A training and research destination rather than a volume employer, and the state's main interdisciplinary training route.
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital
Pediatric academic medical center
The region's children's hospital, in St. Petersburg, hiring into developmental and behavioral services with academic medical center benefits.
Hillsborough 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.
Pinellas County Schools
Public school district
The Pinellas peninsula district, serving St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Largo, with exceptional student education programs across the county.
Private ABA agencies across Tampa Bay
Insurance- and Medicaid-funded providers
A large agency layer funded through the Geller Act mandate and Florida Medicaid. Easy to enter, competitive on price, and where most Tampa Bay behavior analysts begin.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro
Metro median
$55,570
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$39,820
90th percentile
$89,680
BLS metro median, May 2025
$55,570
$3,780 below the national median
Cost of living, 2024
100.9
0.9% above the national average
Worth nationally
$55,074
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 0.9% above the national average, $55,570 here goes about as far as $55,074 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, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, 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 $55,570, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro. That is $3,780 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 $55,570 as a floor for the metro rather than as BCBA pay.
The 10th percentile is $39,820 and the 90th is $89,680. Prices across the metro run 0.9% above the national average, so $55,570 here goes about as far as $55,074 would nationally — the cost adjustment barely moves it. The line that does move is housing, at 25.8% above the national average, which for someone renting through a two-year program is the figure that bites.
The structural reason for a below-national median is worth naming plainly rather than treating as a mystery. Florida requires no state license, its autism insurance mandate and Medicaid benefit are both written around BACB certification, and the result is one of the most accessible provider markets in the country. Easy entry and a large supply of agencies competing for the same funded hours puts downward pressure on rates. The counterweight is that USF supplies an accredited credential at $431.43 per credit to Florida residents, which is among the cheapest anywhere — so the debt side of the equation is unusually favorable even where the salary is not. 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
Florida's ABA programs are spread across the peninsula rather than concentrated, so the nearby metros genuinely change what is available. Orlando has two of its own, including another ABAI-accredited program, and Miami has the state's other one.
ABA Programs in Orlando
Ninety minutes east, with UCF, an ABAI-accredited program at Rollins, and a similar cost structure.
ABA Programs in Miami
South Florida, with FIU's accredited master's and the most expensive housing in the state.
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 Tampa?+
02What is the difference between USF's two ABA master's?+
03Do I need a license to practice ABA in Tampa?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Tampa?+
05Why does Tampa pay below the national median?+
06Where do Tampa Bay ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
Sources
- University of South Florida, M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis (campus)
- University of South Florida, Online M.A. in Applied Behavior Analysis
- USF Online M.A. in ABA, tuition and financial aid
- Florida Center for Inclusive Communities, University of South Florida (UCEDD)
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory