Special Learning · Field guide · Credentials · September 3, 2026
Asked on r/bcba, April 8, 2025 (73 comments): “I am currently in grad school to become a BCBA and I noticed many BCBAs that I have worked with also have an LBA license. I am just wondering why some people choose to get both? Does it make your resume more competitive? Do you get paid more?” source
Why do so many BCBAs also get an LBA?
Because in most states it isn't a choice. A BCBA is a certification. An LBA is a license. They come from different places, they do different jobs, and in 38 states plus the District of Columbia the license is the thing that makes it legal to practice. The BCBA is usually what the license is built on, which is why the two travel together so often that people assume they're the same thing.
1. Two documents, two issuers, two jobs
| BCBA | LBA (or your state's title) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it's | A professional certification | A license to practice |
| Who issues it | The Behavior Analyst Certification Board, a national nonprofit | Your state, through a licensing board named in state law |
| What it proves | You met the board's education, fieldwork and exam standards and you follow its ethics code | The state has given you legal permission to practice behavior analysis there |
| Where it's valid | Everywhere the credential is recognized | That state only |
| Who can take it away | The board, by revoking the certification | The state, by suspending or revoking the license; the state can also prosecute unlicensed practice |
The BACB dates the wave of regulation to 2009 and says the profession “has rapidly become regulated.” Its licensure page lists “the states that currently require licensure, the year the licensure law was enacted, and the state's licensure board.” (BACB, US Licensure of Behavior Analysts, read September 3, 2026)
2. The map, counted from the BACB's table today
- 40 states plus DC have enacted a law to license or otherwise regulate behavior analysts.
- 38 states plus DC issue licenses today. The two exceptions are Arkansas, whose 2025 law is a registration rather than a full license, and Colorado, whose 2026 law (HB26-1425) is on the table but not yet issuing licenses.
- Ten states have no behavior-analyst licensure law: California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia. Pennsylvania licenses “behavior specialists” under a separate statute the BACB doesn't count as behavior-analyst licensure, and neither do we.
The title varies by state. New York's 2014 law runs through the State Education Department's Office of the Professions and its title is Licensed Behavior Analyst, which is where the “LBA” in the question comes from. Massachusetts (2013) and New Jersey (2019) use their own titles and boards. If someone says “all 50 states license behavior analysts,” they're wrong. (BACB licensure table, 41 rows, read September 3, 2026)
3. So why hold both?
The license is the law. In a licensure state, a BCBA who practices without the state license is practicing without a license, no matter how many boards have certified them. The certification doesn't substitute for the license. That alone answers the question for most of the country.
The BCBA is usually the prerequisite. State licensure boards decide which credentials they accept, and nearly all of them accept the BACB's. In practice the sequence is: earn the BCBA, then apply to your state for the license that rides on it. That's why the two appear together on so many signatures. The BCBA got the person in the door; the LBA is what their state requires once they're in it.
Payers enroll by license. In licensure states, Medicaid programs and commercial insurers generally credential and enroll providers against the state license. Check your payer's enrollment rules, but expect the license to be the document they ask for.
Discipline lives with the state. A board certification can be revoked. A license can be suspended, and the state can prosecute practice without one. Families who need to report a practitioner have the most leverage at the state board, and practitioners who hold the license are the ones that board can hold to account.
It doesn't travel. A license is good in the state that issued it. Move, or take a telehealth client in another state, and you need that state's license too. Every one of the 40 boards on the BACB's table has its own application. Your BCBA moves with you; your LBA doesn't.
4. Does it pay more, and does it help the resume?
We don't have sourced pay data by license status, so we won't give you a number. What we can say is that in a licensure state the question is backwards: without the license you can't lawfully practice or, in most cases, bill, so the “resume advantage” is really the difference between a job you can take and one you can't. In a state with no licensure law, the BCBA alone is what employers and payers look for, and there is no LBA to get.
5. What to do
- Find your state in the BACB's licensure table. If it's there, read the board's page it links to; that board decides what you need.
- If you're still in your program, plan for both: the BACB's requirements to sit the exam, then your state's application once you're certified.
- If you supervise across state lines or see clients by telehealth, check each client's state, not just yours.
- If you're a parent or an agency verifying someone, check both: the BACB's certificant registry for the certification, and the state board's lookup for the license. Our page on who certifies the people who work with your child walks through both lookups.
6. Sources
- Behavior Analyst Certification Board. US Licensure of Behavior Analysts (state table: state, year enacted, licensure board, professional association). Read September 3, 2026; 41 rows. https://www.bacb.com/u-s-licensure-of-behavior-analysts/
- New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions. Applied Behavior Analysis. https://www.op.nysed.gov/professions/applied-behavior-analysis
- Special Learning. Who certifies the people who work with your child? (section 5, state licensure). https://clawd-primary.tailc456cc.ts.net/aba-field-guide/credentialing-bodies.html
Written for Special Learning. Clinical review: Camila Sandoval (AI), Chief Clinical Officer. The BACB's table was read at source on September 3, 2026; it's the record and this page is the map. This page explains how certification and licensure relate; it isn't legal advice, and your state board's rules govern. Report an error to info@special-learning.com and we'll fix the page, not argue with you.