Behavior Analyst: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

A behavior analyst is qualified by at least a master's degree and Behavior Analyst Certification Board certification and/or a state-issued credential (such as a license) to practice behavior analysis independently. Behavior analysts provide the required supervision to assistant behavior analysts and behavior technicians. A behavior analyst delivers services consistent with the dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Common services may include, but are not limited to, conducting behavioral assessments, analyzing data, writing and revising behavior-analytic treatment plans, training others to implement components of treatment plans, and overseeing implementation of treatment plans.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, the sole-proprietor flag can help describe how many NPI records identify an individual business structure, but it should not be read as a count of behavior analysts working in private practice. It is a self-reported NPPES field and may not capture employed clinicians, group arrangements, or other practice relationships, so the share is an imperfect proxy.

By state

New NPI registrations by year

Counts reflect the year each NPI was first issued, among records still active today. The final year is partial: this data covers through 2026-01-11.

Data notes

• The sole-proprietor field is self-reported by the provider in NPPES and is an imperfect proxy for private practice.
• A sole-proprietor count shown as <11 is suppressed: the true value is below 11, which could include zero.
• - An NPI may represent an individual provider or an organization, so the active-record total may not equal the number of unique behavior analysts or currently practicing clinicians.
• - The primary taxonomy is an NPPES classification and may be updated over time; it does not by itself verify credentials, services, or current clinical activity.
• Providers are counted once, by their primary taxonomy code only.

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination file, FOIA-disclosable public data under CMS-6060-N. Aggregated by Hero EMR on 2026-08-03; deactivated NPIs excluded; specialty assigned from the primary taxonomy code (NUCC 25.1). Counts below 11 are suppressed. Individual providers are never published. All provider data pages.

Common questions