BCBA & RBT Salary in Hawaii (2026)

From live job-posting data + Medicaid rate records. Updated July 2026.

This page is for ABA practice owners in Hawaii. It shows what the market pays right now, who is hiring, and why. Use it to set offers that keep your team.

Posting-Disclosed Pay

Pay data comes from public LinkedIn postings that state a number. Hourly rates are annualized at 2,080 hours. Small samples are supplemented with national data.

Who Is Hiring in Hawaii

Most active employers (BCBA roles): Invo Healthcare, BAYADA Home Health Care, Center for Social Dynamics, Applied ABC, Positive Behavior Supports Corp..

Busiest hiring cities: Honolulu, Wailuku, Lihue, Aiea, Lahaina.

Working as a Behavior Analyst in Hawaii

Hawaii has required a state Behavior Analyst license since 2016 (Act 199, 2015), and lawmakers made the program permanent in 2021 by removing its original sunset date. The license is administered directly by the Director of the Dept. of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) — there is no standalone behavior analyst board. To get licensed, you need active BCBA or BCBA-D status with the BACB; Hawaii does not add its own exam on top of that, so a clean BACB credential (or an equivalent out-of-state license via endorsement) is your fastest path in.

Two things make Hawaii’s license unusually easy to hold onto. Renewal is biennial, due by December 31 of every odd-numbered year, and there is no continuing-education requirement to renew — confirmed directly on DCCA’s FAQ, which is unusual since most states tie renewal to CE hours. Fees run $310 or $200 depending on where your issue date falls in the cycle. A lapsed license can be restored within one year of forfeiture.

What this means for pay and mobility: demand still outpaces supply. The 2021 bill that made licensure permanent noted only “over three hundred” behavior analyst licenses and “over one thousand” RBT licenses had been issued statewide since the law began — and lawmakers called that total “still insufficient to meet present demands.” For a licensed BCBA, that’s leverage in salary negotiations and job choice, especially given Hawaii’s island geography limits how easily practices import out-of-state labor without going through endorsement. One gap worth knowing: the Hawaii State Loan Repayment Program pays down loans for several behavioral-health licenses (LCSW, LPC, MFT, psychologists) but does not list BCBAs as eligible, so don’t count on loan repayment as part of a Hawaii compensation package.

RBT vs. BT in Hawaii

Hawaii Medicaid (QUEST Integration) draws a hard line at the technician level: only BACB-credentialed RBTs can bill for technician-level ABA (code 97153, modifier HM), and they must work under an LBA’s supervision. An uncertified “behavior technician” cannot bill Hawaii Medicaid at all. BCaBAs can also bill under LBA supervision (modifier HN), and LBAs themselves may bill 97153 at the RBT rate.

For job seekers, the RBT credential is the entry ticket to any Medicaid-funded caseload — without it, you’re not billable. For owners, that means budgeting for certified techs, not just trained ones, plus the supervision hours to go with them: Medicaid guidance sets case supervision at roughly 1-2 hours per 10 hours of RBT service delivery (at least one hour direct/in-person), plus direct supervision covering at least 5% of all BCaBA and RBT service-delivery hours.

Common Questions

How much does a BCBA make in Hawaii?

Job postings in Hawaii that disclose pay show a median around $85,148 per year.

Is it hard to hire BCBAs in Hawaii?

A LinkedIn search for BCBA roles in Hawaii returns 547 results from the past month (including related roles). The busiest hiring markets are Honolulu, Wailuku, Lihue, Aiea, Lahaina.

What drives BCBA pay in a state?

Three things: Medicaid and commercial reimbursement rates, how many certified analysts live in the state, and demand from autism prevalence and insurance mandates.

Compare neighboring states: California · Washington · Alaska