BCBA & RBT Salary in Louisiana (2026)
From live job-posting data + Medicaid rate records. Updated July 2026.
This page is for ABA practice owners in Louisiana. 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
| Role | Median (annualized) | Range | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| BCBA | $91,000 | $67,500 – $149,686 | 12 Louisiana postings that disclose pay |
| RBT | $35,360 | $23,972 – $41,600 | 14 Louisiana postings that disclose 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 Louisiana
Most active employers (BCBA roles): Butterfly Effects, State of Louisiana, Choices Coordinated Care Solutions, Resources for Human Development, Oceans Healthcare.
Busiest hiring cities: New Orleans, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe.
Working as a Behavior Analyst in Louisiana
Louisiana does not let you practice on your BCBA certification alone. Since 2013, under the Behavior Analyst Practice Act (La. R.S. 37:3701 et seq.), you also have to get licensed by the Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board (LBAB) as a Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA). That means passing a Louisiana-specific $75 jurisprudence exam and a $50 criminal background check, then paying a $400 application fee, on top of whatever you already spent to become a BCBA. If you’re relocating to Louisiana, build that extra cost and paperwork into your timeline before you can bill for anything.
The upside: because every practicing behavior analyst in the state has to clear the same bar, LBA status is a real credential, not a rubber stamp on your BCBA. Louisiana also allows telehealth ABA under its Telehealth Access Act, as long as you get written informed consent and verify identity and location at the start of every session, so licensed clinicians aren’t limited to in-person work only.
One thing not to count on: Louisiana’s State Loan Repayment Program pays up to $20,000/year toward providers in shortage areas, but its eligible-discipline list does not include behavior analysts or BCBAs. Don’t factor loan repayment into a Louisiana relocation decision (source).
RBT vs. BT in Louisiana
Louisiana Medicaid’s ABA provider manual never mentions the national RBT credential. Instead, the state runs its own technician tier called the Registered Line Technician (RLT), who delivers direct therapy under the supervision of an LBA, a state-certified assistant behavior analyst (called SCABA in the board’s rules, CaBA in the Medicaid manual), or a licensed psychologist. Only that supervising “licensed professional” can bill Medicaid for the service.
For job seekers, this means a national RBT credential by itself doesn’t automatically make you billable in Louisiana; what matters is being set up as an RLT under a supervising LBA or CaBA. For practice owners, the state also sets hard caps on how much supervision can scale: one LBA can supervise up to 24 technicians a day (more with a CaBA on the support team) and up to 10 CaBAs, with supervision reimbursed at a fixed 2-hours-per-10-hours-of-therapy ratio. That ratio is a direct constraint on how many billable technician hours a single Louisiana-licensed BCBA/LBA can support, which in turn shapes how many techs you can staff per supervisor and what that supervisor is worth to your practice.
Common Questions
How much does a BCBA make in Louisiana?
Job postings in Louisiana that disclose pay show a median around $91,000 per year.
Is it hard to hire BCBAs in Louisiana?
A LinkedIn search for BCBA roles in Louisiana returns 1,000+ results from the past month (including related roles). The busiest hiring markets are New Orleans, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe.
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: Texas · Mississippi · Arkansas