Washington City Guide
ABA Programs in Washington DC
The DC metro is the only place in the country where a thirty-minute commute can cross three separate behavior analyst licensing regimes. This guide covers every one of the ABA programs in Washington DC and the surrounding metro, what the District, Virginia and Maryland each require of you, and why the federal employee health benefit makes this market behave unlike any other.
Key Takeaways
- 01Three ABA programs serve the metro and each one sits in a different jurisdiction: The Chicago School's 49-credit M.S. on the ground in the District, George Mason's 36-credit M.Ed. online out of Fairfax, and Mount St. Mary's 42-credit M.S. in Frederick, Maryland.
- 02The credit counts are not close. The Chicago School runs 49 credits including four credits of field-based clinical training; George Mason runs 36 with no fieldwork embedded; Mount St. Mary's runs 42 of which six are supervised fieldwork. That is a thirteen-credit spread and a real difference in what you get for the money.
- 03Three jurisdictions, three licenses, no reciprocity. The District added behavior analysts to its Board of Psychology in 2024, Virginia has licensed through the Board of Medicine since 2012, and Maryland through its Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists since 2014. Plan on more than one if your caseload crosses a bridge.
- 04The BLS reports a $65,270 median for SOC 21-1018 across the metro (May 2025), which is $5,920 above the national median for the same code. The 90th percentile is $104,170. That category mixes BCBAs with counselors who do not hold a master's plus board certification, so the upper end is the better guide to what an experienced behavior analyst earns here.
- 05The Federal Employees Health Benefits program covers roughly 8 million federal workers, retirees and family members, and most FEHB plans cover ABA therapy. Northern Virginia has the highest concentration of federal civilian employees in the country, which gives this metro an unusually deep commercially-funded caseload rather than a Medicaid-dominated one.
Searching for ABA programs in Washington DC turns up a short list with an odd shape. Three programs serve the metro, and no two of them are in the same state. The Chicago School runs a 49-credit M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis on the ground at its Washington, D.C. campus. George Mason University delivers a 36-credit M.Ed. in Special Education with a Behavior Analysis concentration, fully online and asynchronous, out of Fairfax. Mount St. Mary's University runs a 42-credit M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis from its Frederick, Maryland location, hybrid or fully online by synchronous Zoom.
The three-jurisdiction geography is not just a curiosity about where the classrooms are. It is the single most consequential fact about practicing here. The District, Virginia and Maryland all license behavior analysts, all license them through different bodies, and none of them recognizes the others. Someone building a caseload across the Potomac ends up holding two or three state credentials on top of one BCBA. It is paperwork rather than re-qualification, but it is annual paperwork, and it is worth knowing before you sign a lease in Arlington and take a job in Bethesda.
What the metro gives back is a payer mix almost no other city has. The Federal Employees Health Benefits program is the largest employer-sponsored health plan in the country, most of its plans cover ABA, and the federal civilian workforce is concentrated here more densely than anywhere else. That means commercial reimbursement rather than a market leaning on Medicaid rates, and it shows in the pay distribution: the metro's 90th percentile for the occupation BCBAs are counted in runs $104,170.
Metro scope
Includes: Washington, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Frederick. The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro, running from the District out through Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County in Virginia, up through Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland, and as far north as Frederick.
Note: This is the licensing complication that defines the metro, and it is worth understanding before you pick a program. Three jurisdictions meet here and all three license behavior analysts separately. The District licenses through the D.C. Board of Psychology, which added behavior analysts in 2024. Virginia licenses through the Virginia Board of Medicine, which has done so since 2012. Maryland licenses through its Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists, since 2014. There is no reciprocity between them. A BCBA living in Silver Spring who takes a caseload in Arlington and a school contract in the District needs three applications, three fee schedules and three renewal calendars. Your BCBA carries across all three without rework; the state paperwork does not.
The programs
Every one of the BCBA programs in Washington DC and the metro
3 programs
The Chicago School, Washington, D.C. — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Washington, D.C. campus · Washington, DC · Metro-accessible; the only on-ground ABA master's inside the District
- Tuition
- Published per-credit rates are on The Chicago School's tuition page; confirm the DC-campus rate before you enroll
- Length
- 49 credits (46 core plus a 3-credit elective)
- Format
- On-ground
- Accreditation
- BCBA coursework and practicum sequence; The Chicago School, Washington, D.C. campus
- Part-time
- Cohort scheduling built around working behavior technicians
- The only ABA master's taught on the ground inside the District itself
- Four of the 49 credits are field-based clinical training, so practicum is inside the degree rather than something you arrange separately
- The catalog states the program "incorporates the content areas and practicum requirements for eligibility to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst"
- At 49 credits it is the longest of the three metro programs by a wide margin, which is the trade for the embedded practicum
- The Chicago School holds ABAI accreditation at master's level for its Chicago program; the Washington, D.C. campus is not in the ABAI accredited directory, so do not read the institution's name as covering this campus
George Mason University — M.Ed. in Special Education, Concentration in Behavior Analysis
Fairfax, Northern Virginia · 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 cheapest per-credit route in the metro at $840, and the flat rate means out-of-state students pay what Virginians pay
- GMU states the degree is "designed to meet 2027 Behavior Analyst Certification Board™ (BACB) coursework requirements", so it is built against the standard that takes effect rather than the one being retired
- Thirty-six credits is the shortest of the three, but fieldwork is not embedded — you arrange supervision yourself
- GMU also runs a separate Graduate Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis for people who already hold a qualifying master's
- The M.Ed. is pursuing recognition through ABAI's Tiered Model of Education and does not hold it yet; pursuit is not recognition and the university says so
Mount St. Mary's University — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
Frederick, Maryland · Frederick, MD · Hybrid at the Frederick location, or fully online by synchronous Zoom
- Tuition
- $740 per credit hour for 2026-27, which the university totals at $31,080 for the program
- Length
- 42 credits (36 classroom instruction plus 6 supervised fieldwork)
- Format
- Hybrid in Frederick, or fully online and synchronous
- Accreditation
- BCBA coursework sequence; recognized at Tier 2a under ABAI's Tiered Model of Education
- Part-time
- Evening delivery built for working professionals
- Six of the 42 credits are supervised fieldwork, so a share of your BACB hours accrues inside the degree
- Carries ABAI Tier 2a recognition under the Tiered Model of Education, which is a reviewed status short of accreditation and a stronger signal than nothing
- The university publishes a whole-program figure, $31,080 at $740 per credit for 2026-27, rather than leaving you to multiply
- Synchronous online delivery means live classes rather than recordings, which suits people who want a cohort and not a correspondence course
- Frederick is at the far northern edge of the metro; treat this as a Maryland program that the metro can reach rather than a downtown one
Cost of living
What it costs to live in the DC metro while you study
The DC metro is expensive in a specific way: the whole basket runs moderately above the national average while housing runs dramatically above it. That gap matters more to a graduate student than the headline figure does, because rent is the line you cannot shrink by cooking at home. The compensating factor is transit. This is one of the few American metros where a behavior analyst can genuinely work without a car, at least on the Metro-served corridors — and one where fieldwork placement geography decides whether that is true for you.
Housing, 2024
151.1
51.1% above the national average
Everything, 2024
108.9
8.9% above the national average
Metro median pay covers
$59,936
of national-average spending
Housing runs 51.1% 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, 2024, where the national average is 100. Housing is the services-housing component; the second figure is the whole basket.
Transit
WMATA Metrorail and Metrobus
Six lines reaching Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, Silver Spring and New Carrollton
Car
Placement-dependent
In-home and school caseloads across Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George's counties need one; a District-only clinic caseload may not
Cross-jurisdiction commute
DC, Virginia and Maryland
Inside one commuting metro, but three separate behavior analyst licenses with no reciprocity
Tuition, George Mason M.Ed. (all students)
$840 per credit hour, 2026-27
Same rate for residents and non-residents; includes a $35 distance learning fee
Tuition, Mount St. Mary's M.S.
$740 per credit hour, 2026-27
University publishes an estimated program total of $31,080
Clinical fieldwork
BCBA certification in DC: where metro students do supervised fieldwork
The metro supports the full range of fieldwork settings, and its federally designated centers are genuinely strong for a city better known for government than for medicine. Children's National and Georgetown between them hold a developmental disabilities research center, a UCEDD and a LEND program, and the region's school districts include two of the largest in the country. What you have to plan around is jurisdiction: a placement in Fairfax and a placement in the District are in different licensing regimes, and your supervisor's credential has to be right for the one you are in.
Children's National Hospital
Children's National anchors the DC Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, a federally funded center run jointly with George Washington University, Georgetown University Medical Center and Howard University. It also hosts a LEND program through the Children's Research Institute.
Georgetown UCEDD and LEND
Georgetown's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities is the District's federally designated UCEDD and runs a LEND program alongside it, training behavior analysts in interdisciplinary teams with pediatricians, nurses and family advocates.
Fairfax and Montgomery County public schools
Fairfax County Public Schools and Montgomery County Public Schools are the largest districts in Virginia and Maryland respectively. Both employ behavior analysts across their special education services and host school-based fieldwork.
District of Columbia Public Schools
DCPS places trainees in city schools, and its caseloads look different from the suburban districts — denser, more urban, and more likely to involve coordination with the District's own health and human services agencies.
Specialized schools and private agencies
The metro carries a deep private layer serving commercially insured families, including The Ivymount School in Rockville, which runs school and community programs for students with autism and other developmental disabilities.
Hiring market
Major ABA employers across the DC metro
The DC BCBA market has an unusual funding profile. Most metros run on a mix of Medicaid and commercial insurance with Medicaid setting the floor; here the Federal Employees Health Benefits program puts an enormous block of commercially insured families into the same catchment. That changes the agency economics, and it is why a metro without a large hospital-based ABA service still pays above the national median.
Children's National Hospital
Pediatric academic medical center
The region's dominant children's hospital and the host of the DC-IDDRC. Hires into developmental and behavioral pediatrics alongside its research programs.
Georgetown University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities
University center for developmental disabilities
The District's UCEDD and LEND program. A training site first, and a destination for people who want interdisciplinary and policy-facing work rather than pure caseload delivery.
Fairfax County Public Schools
Public school district
Virginia's largest district, serving the Northern Virginia corridor. District roles trade some ceiling for a school calendar and Virginia Retirement System membership.
Montgomery County Public Schools
Public school district
Maryland's largest district, covering Bethesda, Silver Spring and Rockville. Employs behavior specialists across its special education programs.
The Ivymount School
Independent special education school
Rockville school and community-services organization for students with autism and other developmental disabilities, and one of the metro's long-established specialized settings.
Side by side
Comparing the 3 Washington 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, Washington, D.C. — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis Washington, DC | On-ground | 49 credits (46 core plus a 3-credit elective) | Published per-credit rates are on The Chicago School's tuition page; confirm the DC-campus rate before you enroll | Not required |
| George Mason University — M.Ed. in Special Education, Concentration in Behavior Analysis Fairfax, VA | 100% online, asynchronous | 36 credits | $840 per credit hour for 2026-27, the same rate for Virginia residents and non-residents, including a $35 distance learning fee | Not required |
| Mount St. Mary's University — M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis Frederick, MD | Hybrid in Frederick, or fully online and synchronous | 42 credits (36 classroom instruction plus 6 supervised fieldwork) | $740 per credit hour for 2026-27, which the university totals at $31,080 for the program | Not required |
Metro pay
BCBA salary in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro
Metro median
$65,270
National median
$59,350
10th percentile
$46,520
90th percentile
$104,170
BLS metro median, May 2025
$65,270
$5,920 above the national median
Cost of living, 2024
108.9
8.9% above the national average
Worth nationally
$59,936
the same pay in national-average dollars
Because prices run 8.9% above the national average, $65,270 here goes about as far as $59,936 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, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV. 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 $65,270, the BLS OEWS May 2025 median for SOC 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, across the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro. That is $5,920 above 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 that require neither a master's degree nor board certification, so read $65,270 as a floor for the metro rather than as BCBA pay.
The same release puts the 10th percentile at $46,520 and the 90th at $104,170. Because BCBA-titled roles sit at the credentialed end of that category, the 90th percentile is the more useful marker for experienced behavior analysts and the median is the more useful one for the wider category. Prices across the metro run 8.9% above the national average, so $65,270 here goes about as far as $59,936 would nationally. Housing on its own runs 51.1% above the national average, which is where nearly the whole gap comes from.
One structural feature is worth weighing against the cost. The FEHB commercial base means agencies here bill at commercial rates for a larger share of their caseload than agencies in most metros, and that supports both pay and the number of positions. Set against that, the three-jurisdiction licensing overhead is a real annual cost in fees and renewal time. For national context see our BCBA salary guide.
Other cities
Other cities in District of Columbia
Washington is currently the only District of Columbia metro with its own guide. The state guide carries every program in District of Columbia plus the licensure picture.
Nearby metros
If you are flexible on metro
The DC metro touches two others that are close enough to be genuine alternatives. Baltimore is forty miles up the parkway and carries three ABA programs of its own plus the Kennedy Krieger Institute, which is the strongest developmental disabilities employer on this side of the country. Richmond and Virginia Beach put the rest of Virginia within reach, and both sit under the same Board of Medicine license you would already hold.
ABA Programs in Baltimore
Forty miles north, with three programs including an ABAI-accredited master's, and Kennedy Krieger anchoring the employer market.
ABA Programs in Richmond
Same Virginia license, a considerably cheaper housing market, and VCU's federally designated center.
ABA Programs in Virginia
The full state picture: every Virginia program, the Board of Medicine license, and how FEHB shapes the Northern Virginia market.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
01How many ABA programs are in Washington DC?+
02Do I need a license to practice ABA in Washington DC?+
03How much do BCBAs make in Washington DC?+
04Where do DC-area ABA students do supervised fieldwork?+
05Which DC-area ABA program is cheapest?+
06Is Washington DC a good place to start a BCBA career?+
Sources
- The Chicago School, MS Applied Behavior Analysis — Washington, D.C. (academic catalog)
- George Mason University, M.Ed. in Special Education, Concentration in Behavior Analysis
- Mount St. Mary's University, M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis
- BACB, U.S. Licensure of Behavior Analysts by State
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria MSA (SOC 21-1018)
- Georgetown University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD/LEND)
- District of Columbia Board of Psychology, Health Regulation and Licensing Administration
- ABAI Accredited Programs Directory