Virginia Beach City Guide
ABA Programs in Virginia Beach
Hampton Roads carries the largest concentration of naval facilities anywhere in the world, which makes the military health benefit a bigger part of behavior analysis here than in almost any other metro. It also has one local ABA offering, and it is a certificate rather than a degree. This guide covers both facts and what follows from them.
Key Takeaways
- 01The only ABA offering based in the metro is Old Dominion University's 24-credit Applied Behavior Analysis Certificate, delivered online at $486 per credit in-state. It is a certificate, not a master's degree, so it satisfies the coursework requirement and not the degree requirement.
- 02If you do not already hold a qualifying master's, the reachable degree is George Mason's 36-credit M.Ed., delivered 100% online from Northern Virginia at $840 per credit for residents and non-residents alike.
- 03Virginia licenses behavior analysts through its Board of Medicine, which is unusual — most states use a dedicated, psychology or counseling board. Renewal requires 32 continuing education hours every two years.
- 04Hampton Roads holds the largest concentration of naval facilities in the world, and TRICARE's Autism Care Demonstration is correspondingly a larger share of the local caseload than in almost any other metro, with its own authorization and outcome-reporting rules.
- 05The metro median is $59,280 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018) with housing costs essentially level with the national average — 0.2% below it, which is rare on the East Coast.
Hampton Roads is a strong place to work in behavior analysis and a thin place to qualify in it. Old Dominion University runs the metro's only local offering: a 24-credit Applied Behavior Analysis Certificate, delivered online at $486 per credit for Virginia residents. It is important to be clear about what that is — a coursework sequence, not a degree. It satisfies the BACB's coursework requirement, and it leaves the degree requirement to a master's you hold already or obtain elsewhere.
For most people that means George Mason University's M.Ed. in Special Education with a Behavior Analysis concentration, which is 36 credits delivered fully online and asynchronously from Fairfax, at $840 per credit for everyone regardless of residency. GMU states the degree is designed to meet 2027 BACB coursework requirements, which is the standard taking effect rather than the one being retired.
The employment picture is where this metro is distinctive. Hampton Roads holds the largest concentration of naval facilities in the world, including the largest naval base on earth at Norfolk. A substantial share of behavior analysis here is delivered to military families under TRICARE's Autism Care Demonstration, which has authorization procedures, required outcome measures and provider qualifications entirely separate from Virginia Medicaid or commercial insurance. Learn those deliberately if you intend to practice here.
Metro scope
Includes: Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Williamsburg. The Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro, covering the Hampton Roads cities on both sides of the harbor — Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk on the south side, Newport News, Hampton and Williamsburg on the Peninsula, and the northeastern North Carolina counties at the metro's southern edge.
Note: The metro reaches into North Carolina at its southern edge, and both states license. Virginia licenses behavior analysts through the Virginia Board of Medicine and has since 2012 — an unusual arrangement, since most states use a dedicated board, a psychology board or a counseling board rather than a board of medicine. North Carolina licenses through its own Behavior Analyst Licensure Board and has since 2021. Renewal in Virginia carries 32 continuing education hours every two years. The larger practical factor here is not the state line but the harbor: Hampton Roads is a metro divided by water, and a caseload that spans the south side and the Peninsula means tunnels and bridges on every visit.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA routes in Hampton Roads
2 programs
Old Dominion University — Applied Behavior Analysis Certificate
Norfolk; delivered online · Norfolk, VA · No commute; online delivery
- Tuition
- $486 per credit hour in-state, $1,335 per credit hour out-of-state
- Length
- 24 credits, about 2 years
- Format
- Online
- Accreditation
- BACB-aligned coursework sequence; ODU Department of Human Movement Studies and Special Education
- Part-time
- Built for working professionals across Hampton Roads
- The only ABA offering based in the Hampton Roads metro
- This is a certificate, not a degree: it satisfies the BCBA coursework requirement and not the degree requirement
- At $486 per credit in-state it is inexpensive, and the 24 credits are the whole commitment
- ODU's reach into the Tidewater school districts and the military-base communities is the strongest in the region
- The out-of-state rate of $1,335 per credit is nearly three times the resident figure
George Mason University — M.Ed. in Special Education, Concentration in Behavior Analysis
Fairfax, Northern Virginia; delivered online · Fairfax, VA · No commute; 100% online and asynchronous in 8-week modules
- Tuition
- $840 per credit hour for 2026-27, the same rate for Virginia residents and non-residents, including a $35 distance learning fee
- Length
- 36 credits
- Format
- 100% online, asynchronous
- Accreditation
- BCBA coursework sequence; GMU College of Education and Human Development
- Part-time
- Eight-week modules designed for people already working in schools or clinics
- The reachable qualifying master's for a Hampton Roads student, delivered entirely online from the other end of the state
- GMU states the degree is "designed to meet 2027 Behavior Analyst Certification Board™ (BACB) coursework requirements"
- A flat $840 per credit for residents and non-residents, including a $35 distance learning fee
- Eight-week asynchronous modules, which suits irregular working hours better than a synchronous schedule
- Fieldwork is not embedded; you arrange supervision locally, which in this metro means asking about TRICARE rules early
Cost of living
What it costs to live in Hampton Roads while you study
Hampton Roads costs almost exactly the national average: the BEA index puts the whole basket 2.1% below national and housing 0.2% below — a rarity on the East Coast, where housing is usually well above. What the metro takes back is travel time. This is a region divided by water, and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Monitor-Merrimac crossing are a daily feature of any caseload spanning the south side and the Peninsula.
Housing, 2024
99.8
level with the national average
Everything, 2024
97.9
2.1% below the national average
Metro median pay covers
$60,552
of national-average spending
Housing costs about what it does nationally, so rent is not the deciding factor here.
Both figures are BEA Regional Price Parities for Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Housing price level
0.2% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity for housing, 2024 — unusual for an East Coast metro
All-items price level
2.1% below the national average
BEA Regional Price Parity, all items, 2024
Transit
HRT bus and the Tide light rail in Norfolk
The Tide serves a single Norfolk corridor; the metro is otherwise a car proposition
Water crossings
Bridges and tunnels
A caseload spanning the south side and the Peninsula means a tunnel on every visit
Military caseloads
TRICARE Autism Care Demonstration
A larger share of the local market than almost any metro in this guide
Tuition, ODU certificate (in-state)
$486 per credit hour
$1,335 per credit hour out-of-state; 24 credits
Tuition, George Mason M.Ed. (all students)
$840 per credit hour, 2026-27
Flat rate including a $35 distance learning fee; 36 credits
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in Virginia Beach: where Hampton Roads students do supervised fieldwork
Fieldwork in Hampton Roads splits between a large children's hospital, several sizeable city school divisions, and the military health system. The metro has no University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities — Virginia's is the Partnership for People with Disabilities at VCU in Richmond — so the interdisciplinary research route means traveling for it.
Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters
CHKD in Norfolk is the region's only freestanding children's hospital and the most competitive clinical placement in Hampton Roads.
TRICARE Autism Care Demonstration providers
With Naval Station Norfolk and the wider Hampton Roads base complex, providers serving military families under the ACD carry a very large share of the metro's caseload — under authorization and reporting rules separate from Medicaid and commercial plans.
Hampton Roads school divisions
Virginia Beach City Public Schools and Norfolk Public Schools are among Virginia's larger divisions, and Chesapeake, Newport News and Hampton add four more.
Old Dominion University
ODU is the region's research university and the hub of its behavior-analytic faculty network, which matters for finding qualified supervisors.
Military family transition caseloads
Families rotate on assignment cycles, so transition planning to a provider in another state is routine work here rather than occasional — a skill worth developing early.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads has an employer mix shaped by the Navy. TRICARE is a payer with its own rules and a very large local footprint, the school divisions serve a population that turns over faster than most, and CHKD sits at the clinical top. What the metro does not have is a research tier: no UCEDD, no LEND program, and no academic behavior-analytic department at doctoral level.
Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters
Pediatric hospital
The region's only freestanding children's hospital, in Norfolk, hiring into developmental and behavioral services.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
Public school division
One of Virginia's largest divisions, employing behavior specialists across special education services, with Virginia Retirement System membership.
Norfolk Public Schools
Public school division
The metro's urban core division, serving a student population with high military-family turnover.
Old Dominion University
Public research university
Runs the metro's only local ABA offering and anchors its professional network and supervision pipeline.
TRICARE-funded ABA providers
Military health benefit providers
Agencies serving military families under the Autism Care Demonstration. In a metro built around the world's largest naval base, this is a dominant rather than a supplementary payer.
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro
Metro median
$59,280
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$37,240
90th percentile
$96,790
BLS metro median, May 2025
$59,280
$70 below the national median
Cost of living, 2024
97.9
2.1% below the national average
Worth nationally
$60,552
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 2.1% below the national average, $59,280 here goes about as far as $60,552 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, Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC. 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 $59,280, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro. That is $70 below the national median of $59,350 for the same code — level, to any practical purpose. 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 $59,280 as a floor rather than as BCBA pay.
The spread is wide for a metro this size: a 10th percentile of $37,240 against a 90th of $96,790, a gap of $59,550 that is the twelfth-widest in this guide. A wide spread means the credential is doing real work — the difference between a technician-level role and a board certified one is larger here than in a compressed market.
On cost, prices run 2.1% below the national average, so $59,280 goes about as far as $60,552 would nationally, and housing at 0.2% below the national average is genuinely unusual for an East Coast metro. Hampton Roads pays about the national median and costs about the national average, which makes it one of the more straightforward financial propositions in this guide. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in Virginia
We also cover one other metro in Virginia. 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
Virginia's other metros share the Board of Medicine license, so moving within the state costs you no new credential. Richmond is ninety minutes northwest and Washington is three hours north.
ABA Programs in Richmond
Ninety minutes northwest, home to Virginia's federally designated developmental disabilities center at VCU.
ABA Programs in Washington DC
Three hours north, paying $65,270 against housing 51.1% above national and needing up to three licenses.
ABA Programs in Virginia
The full state picture: every Virginia program, the Board of Medicine license, and how FEHB shapes the northern market.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Virginia Beach?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Virginia Beach?+
03How does the military caseload change ABA work in Hampton Roads?+
04How much do BCBAs make in Virginia Beach?+
05Where do Hampton Roads ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
06Is Virginia Beach a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- Old Dominion University, Applied Behavior Analysis Certificate (graduate catalog)
- George Mason University, M.Ed. in Special Education, Concentration in Behavior Analysis
- Virginia Board of Medicine, Department of Health Professions
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory