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Fact sheetUpdated November 2, 2026Version 1.0Source: BACB / Lightcast

BCBA job demand by state, 2024 to 2025Where did BCBA job postings grow most in 2025?

New Jersey added 2,985 annual BCBA/BCBA-D job postings, the largest increase among the 30 states in the BACB report.

Who this counts: Annual US job postings requiring or preferring BCBA or BCBA-D certification; state table limited to the 30 states published by BACB.

At a glance

  • New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and New York added 11,566 postings combined, equal to 39.7% of the national net increase.
  • California had the most postings in 2025: 20,258. Its increase from 2024 was 680.
  • These are annual job advertisements, not positions open today, hires or an estimate of the staffing shortage.

Quote this figure

New Jersey added 2,985 annual postings requiring or preferring BCBA/BCBA-D certification from 2024 to 2025, the largest increase among the 30 states in the BACB/Lightcast report, according to calculations by Autism Stats.

Largest increases in BCBA job postings

Additional annual postings, 2025 minus 2024

Eight largest increases among the 30 states published in the BACB report. Annual postings requiring or preferring BCBA/BCBA-D certification, not current vacancies or hires.
Source: BACB / Lightcast: US Employment Demand for Behavior Analysts, 2010 to 2025.

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Five states added 11,566 postings

New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and New York together added 11,566 postings between 2024 and 2025. That equals 39.7% of the national net increase of 29,157.

These are the five largest increases within the published 30-state table. The source selects states by their 2025 posting totals, so this is not a complete ranking of growth across all 50 states.

California had the most postings, but a smaller increase

California recorded 20,258 postings in 2025, more than any other state in the published table. Its increase from 2024 was 680, compared with 2,985 in New Jersey.

New Jersey added about 4.4 times as many postings as California. That compares the change between years, not the total number of job opportunities or the percentage growth rate.

132,307 postings does not mean 132,307 jobs open today

Lightcast counted 132,307 US postings requiring or preferring BCBA/BCBA-D certification during 2025. That annual total was 28.3% above 2024. It does not count vacancies open on a particular day, completed hires or the number of additional certified behavior analysts needed.

The source removes duplicate postings. Even so, an annual flow of advertisements cannot be divided by a current credential count to measure a staffing shortfall. The figures also do not measure caseloads, salaries or families waiting for care.

What this cannot tell you

  • The state table contains 30 states, selected by 2025 posting volume. Other states are not zero and are not ranked here.
  • Postings may require or merely prefer certification. BCBA-D denotes a doctoral designation, not a separate clinical license.
  • Behavior analysis jobs are not limited to autism services. These counts do not identify an autism-only workforce.
  • Job advertisements do not establish how many positions were filled, remained open or represented distinct hires.

How this report was built

Autism Stats transcribed the 2024 and 2025 counts from the BACB/Lightcast January 2026 report, physical PDF page 4, and sorted the 30 published states by 2025 minus 2024 postings. Percentage growth is that change divided by the 2024 count. Share of national increase is the state change divided by 29,157 (132,307 minus 103,150), multiplied by 100. The five-state share is calculated from unrounded counts. These are our calculations from published data, not a new employer survey.

Source retrieval dates are listed below. This report was checked against those source versions on November 2, 2026. Live source pages may change after that date.

Read the publication method

Sources and downloads

BACB / Lightcast: US Employment Demand for Behavior Analysts, 2010 to 2025Open the sourcePhysical PDF pages 2 to 4; national series and top-30-state table. Data period 2024 and 2025. Released January 2026. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
Dataset record

Cite this report

Autism Stats. BCBA job demand by state: where postings grew in 2025. Version 1.0, November 2, 2026. https://autismstats.com/statistics/bcba-job-demand-by-state

When you quote a figure, include the population and collection year. Link to the original source as well when your publication requires it.