Behavior Analysts and Students With Autism, by Florida County

Where Florida’s listed behavior analysts are

The National Provider Identifier (NPI) registry lists every health care provider who has applied for an NPI, with the specialty they chose and a practice address. We counted people whose main specialty is Behavior Analyst and placed each one in a county by the ZIP code of that address. Then we set each county’s count beside the students with autism eligibility in its public schools.

• Miami-Dade County has 4,752 listed behavior analysts, 34% of Florida’s, and 14% of the state’s students with autism eligibility: 2.1 students per analyst. The five counties with the most listed analysts (Miami-Dade 4,752, Broward 1,762, Hillsborough 949, Palm Beach 806, Orange 777) hold 65% of them.Source: CMS NPPES (NPI registry), November 2026 file. Period: Registry as of November 2, 2026
• Palm Beach County has 806 listed analysts (5.8% of Florida’s) and 5,853 students with autism eligibility (8.2%): 7.3 students per analyst, against 5.2 statewide.Source: CMS NPPES (NPI registry), November 2026 file. Period: Registry as of November 2, 2026
• Hillsborough County has 949 listed analysts (6.8%) and 4,809 students (6.7%): 5.1 students per analyst.Source: CMS NPPES (NPI registry), November 2026 file. Period: Registry as of November 2, 2026
• Broward County has 1,762 listed analysts (12.7%) and 9,990 students (13.9%): 5.7 students per analyst.Source: CMS NPPES (NPI registry), November 2026 file. Period: Registry as of November 2, 2026
• St. Lucie County has 126 listed analysts (0.9%) and 1,229 students (1.7%): 9.8 students per analyst, the 24th of the 54 counties with any analyst listed when ranked from fewest students per analyst to most.Source: CMS NPPES (NPI registry), November 2026 file. Period: Registry as of November 2, 2026
• 13 counties have no behavior analyst listed at a practice address there: Baker, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Taylor, Wakulla, Washington. Together their schools have 720 students with autism eligibility. Analysts based in nearby counties may still serve families there.Source: CMS NPPES (NPI registry), November 2026 file. Period: Registry as of November 2, 2026
• Addresses can bunch up. Martin County shows 1.1 students per analyst (391 analysts, 442 students), but 267 of its analysts share one ZIP code. In Miami-Dade, 583 share one ZIP code. Many analysts give an employer’s office as their practice address, so a county with a large provider’s office can show more analysts than work with families there.Source: CMS NPPES (NPI registry), November 2026 file. Period: Registry as of November 2, 2026

How the NPI registry compares with the BACB

• The Behavior Analyst Certification Board counts 9,954 BCBAs (including the doctoral BCBA-D) with a Florida address. The NPI registry lists 13,916 people in Florida with Behavior Analyst as their main specialty, 40% more. Across the 50 states and DC the gap is similar: 111,251 in the registry against 82,621 BCBAs (35% more).Source: BACB region-specific data. Period: Current counts, retrieved November 11, 2026
• Florida has the 2nd-most listed behavior analysts of any state, after California, and 12.5% of the national total. The BACB’s own table puts Florida second for BCBAs too.Source: CMS NPPES (NPI registry), November 2026 file. Period: Registry as of November 2, 2026

Why the registry runs higher: providers choose their own specialty code, the registry does not check BACB certification, and an NPI stays active after a person stops practicing or moves unless they update it. Counting everyone who lists Behavior Analyst in any of their specialty slots, not just as the main one, would give 15,268 in Florida. So read the county counts as where analysts have registered, and the ratios as a comparison between counties, not as caseloads.

Every Florida county

Counties A to Z. “None listed” means no one in the registry gives a practice address in that county with Behavior Analyst as their main specialty.

What this means for families

• The NPI registry is not a credential check. Anyone can list Behavior Analyst as a specialty. To confirm that a BCBA or RBT is certified and in good standing, use the BACB’s free registry; our guide to checking a BCBA’s or RBT’s credentials shows how.
• Where an analyst is listed is not where they work. Much ABA happens at home, at school or in daycare, so analysts travel, and many list an employer’s office. Ask any provider whether they serve your area and who your child’s BCBA will be.
• Ask about supervision. Before you start with any provider, ask how often the BCBA will see your child and meet with you. Our guide on how much BCBA supervision to expect explains the rules.
• A county’s ratio is not a quality score. It compares where analysts register with where schools have identified students. It says nothing about any provider’s care.

Method, sources and limits

We read the NPPES_Data_Dissemination_November_2026_V2.zip file from CMS (Registry as of November 2, 2026), kept individual providers (not organizations) whose primary taxonomy is 103K00000X, Behavior Analyst, and took the ZIP code of their practice location. Each ZIP code was assigned to the county that holds most of its land area, using the Census Bureau’s 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Area to county file; 137 of Florida’s 1,013 ZIP areas cross a county line. 26 analysts had a ZIP code with no Census ZIP area (for example a PO box or university ZIP code) and are in the Florida total but no county. Students with autism eligibility are FLDOE’s 2025-26 counts by county school district, from our study of autism in Florida schools, county by county. Ratios and shares are our calculations, rounded to one decimal place. We checked the figures on November 12, 2026; the scripts and the county counts (no names or NPI numbers) are kept with the page’s code.

• Who is counted: people who registered an NPI with Behavior Analyst as their main specialty. The registry does not show certification, whether a person still practices, or how many hours they work, and it is updated by providers themselves.
• Who is not counted: analysts without an NPI, analysts who chose another main specialty, assistant behavior analysts and behavior technicians (their counts by county are in the CSV).
• Students are not the whole caseload: behavior analysts also work with children too young for school, adults, and people without an autism diagnosis, and not every student with autism eligibility receives ABA.
• Timing: the registry is from November 2026 and the school counts are from October 2025.
• Hand checks: the BACB’s online registry cannot be searched by script, so we compared totals with the BACB’s published state table instead of checking individual names.

• CMS, National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) data file (NPPES_Data_Dissemination_November_2026_V2.zip): individual providers with Behavior Analyst (103K00000X) as primary taxonomy, by practice location. Registry as of November 2, 2026.
• US Census Bureau, 2020 ZCTA to County Relationship File. 2020 geography.
• Florida Department of Education, Membership in Programs for Exceptional Students (Final Survey 2), 2025-26, via our study Autism in Florida Schools, County by County. 2025-26 school year (Survey 2).
• Behavior Analyst Certification Board, Region-Specific Certificant Data. Current counts, retrieved November 11, 2026.

Cite this study

Hope Center for Behavior Change, “Behavior Analysts and Students With Autism, by Florida County,” November 12, 2026, https://hopecenterforbehaviorchange.com/research/florida-behavior-analyst-supply/. Data: CMS NPPES; Florida Department of Education; US Census Bureau; Behavior Analyst Certification Board.

Download the data as a CSV: every figure on this page plus each county’s listed behavior analysts, assistant analysts and technicians, students and ratio. Free to use with credit to Hope Center for Behavior Change and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0). Please cite the original sources too.

Spotted an error or a newer figure? Email office@hopecenteraba.com and we will correct the page and note the change.

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