Behavior Technician Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 13,716 US job postings by 1,226 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for behavior technicians: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 13,716 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for behavior technicians in US job postings is $24.00 an hour (5,295 postings from 480 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $21.50 to $26.00 an hour.
- Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $24.50 an hour (597 postings).
- The skills that most set behavior technician postings apart are aba therapy, applied behavior analysis, compassionate.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 1 year of experience.
Behavior Technician job postings in the US, October 2026
- $24.00/hr
- Median advertised pay (5,295 postings)
- $21.50–$26.00
- Middle 50% of postings
- $24.50/hr
- Starting pay (postings asking up to 1 year)
- 13,716
- US job postings from 1,226 employers
How much does a behavior technician make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $24.00 an hour, from 5,295 US job postings by 480 employers that state pay. That is about $50,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 5,295 US behavior technician job postings: median $50,000 a year ($24.00 an hour), middle half $45,000 to $54,000.
- Median: $50,000 ($24.00/hr)
- 25th percentile: $45,000
- 75th percentile: $54,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 0.5% |
| $30K–$40K | 9.4% |
| $40K–$50K | 44.3% |
| $50K–$60K | 37.7% |
| $60K–$70K | 7.2% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $24.00 | $21.50–$26.00 | 2,863 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $50,000 | $45K–$54K | 5,295 |
What is the starting salary for a behavior technician?
Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $24.50 an hour (597 postings).
| Experience asked | Median advertised pay | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 years | $24.50/hr | 597 |
| 2-4 years | withheld | 176 |
| 5+ years | withheld | 15 |
Highest-paying behavior technician jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABA Therapist | $25.00/hr | 432 | 52 |
| Registered Behavior Technician | $24.00/hr | 4,407 | 406 |
Behavior technician pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | $26.00/hr | $24.60–$27.50 | 304 | 5.4% |
| Maryland | $26.00/hr | $24.00–$28.50 | 317 | 4.0% |
| Colorado | $25.68/hr | $24.00–$28.50 | 169 | 2.7% |
| Massachusetts | $25.00/hr | $23.50–$26.50 | 297 | 5.8% |
| Georgia | $24.80/hr | $22.50–$27.50 | 303 | 5.9% |
| New York | $24.50/hr | $23.00–$25.00 | 213 | 4.3% |
| Virginia | $24.50/hr | $22.50–$26.00 | 245 | 4.2% |
| California | $24.00/hr | $22.00–$25.00 | 467 | 7.0% |
| North Carolina | $24.00/hr | $22.38–$25.62 | 316 | 5.9% |
| Arizona | $23.00/hr | $21.00–$24.00 | 233 | 3.5% |
| Florida | $22.75/hr | $21.00–$25.00 | 101 | 2.1% |
| Pennsylvania | $22.25/hr | $19.50–$24.60 | 149 | 2.6% |
| Missouri | $22.00/hr | $20.62–$24.50 | 152 | 5.8% |
| Tennessee | $22.00/hr | $21.26–$22.00 | 105 | 1.9% |
| Texas | $21.00/hr | $19.50–$21.50 | 155 | 5.2% |
| Kansas | $20.50/hr | $20.50–$22.00 | 124 | 2.4% |
| Illinois | $20.00/hr | $18.00–$21.00 | 119 | 2.2% |
| Michigan | $19.00/hr | $18.50–$21.00 | 241 | 3.7% |
Skills employers ask for in behavior technician job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 41% |
| Interpersonal skills | 17% |
| Compassionate | 15% |
| Patience | 10% |
| Professionalism | 9% |
| Organizational skills | 8% |
| Work independently | 8% |
| Aba therapy | 7% |
| Patient | 7% |
| Confidentiality | 6% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set behavior technicians apart
- Aba therapy193.4× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Applied behavior analysis98.2× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Compassionate5.2× as often as in all postings · 15%
- Patience10.1× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Patient15.9× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Empathy4.8× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Confidentiality4.1× as often as in all postings · 6%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a behavior technician job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a behavior technician do?
Employers post these jobs as Registered Behavior Technician, Registered Behavior Technician (RBT), RBT, ABA Therapist, Behavior Therapist and other titles. The largest specializations are Registered Behavior Technician (75%), RBT (10%), ABA Therapist (7%).
The closest official occupation is Psychiatric Technicians (29-2053.00). Its most important tasks:
- Provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.
- Encourage patients to develop work skills and to participate in social, recreational, or other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills or develop social relationships.
- Restrain violent, potentially violent, or suicidal patients by verbal or physical means as required.
- Lead prescribed individual or group therapy sessions as part of specific therapeutic procedures.
- Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report unusual behavior or physical ailments to medical staff.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a behavior technician?
Among 919 postings that state a minimum, the median is 1 year. Under 1% say 0 years and 72% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 919 US behavior technician job postings: median 1 year, and 72% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 12% |
| 1 yr | 60% |
| 2 yrs | 19% |
| 3-4 yrs | 7% |
| 5-7 yrs | under 1% |
| 8-9 yrs | 0% |
| 10+ yrs | 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Part-time 63%, Full-time 37% of the 1,828 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a behavior technician: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Registered Behavior Technician | 449 (36.6%) |
| Behavior Technician | 309 (25.2%) |
| Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) | 212 (17.3%) |
| RBT | 141 (11.5%) |
| ABA Therapist | 61 (5.0%) |
| Behavior Therapist | 60 (4.9%) |
| Registered Behavioral Technician | 57 (4.7%) |
| Behavioral Technician | 48 (3.9%) |
| Behavior Technician (BT) | 37 (3.0%) |
| ABA Behavior Technician | 37 (3.0%) |
| Registered Behavior Technician RBT | 29 (2.4%) |
| Behavior Tech | 27 (2.2%) |
| RBT (Registered Behavior Technician) | 22 (1.8%) |
| Behavioral Interventionist | 19 (1.6%) |
| Behavioral Therapist | 19 (1.6%) |
| ABA TECHNICIAN | 18 (1.5%) |
| Behavior Technician (RBT) | 17 (1.4%) |
| Behavioral Health Technician | 15 (1.2%) |
| Paraprofessional | 14 (1.1%) |
| Registered Behavioral Technician (RBT) | 13 (1.1%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Behavior technician job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABA Therapist | 309 | 61 | – | – | compassionate, applied behavior analysis, communication |
| Registered Behavior Technician | 2,320 | 449 | $24.34/hr | 1 year | communication, interpersonal skills, organizational skills |
| Registered Behavioral Technician | 103 | 57 | – | – | – |
| Behavioral Technician | 240 | 48 | – | – | – |
Behavior Technician compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behavior Technician | $24.00/hr | 1 year | 13,716 | – |
| Behavior Analyst | $77.00/hr | 2 years | 8,112 | 13 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant | $21.00/hr | 1 year | 31,478 | 18 |
| Childcare Worker | $17.50/hr | 1 year | 11,091 | 16 |
| Recreation Coordinator | $18.75/hr | 1 year | 4,714 | 13 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Behavior Analyst | 13 | $77.00/hr |
| Certified Nursing Assistant | 18 | $21.00/hr |
| Childcare Worker | 16 | $17.50/hr |
| Recreation Coordinator | 13 | $18.75/hr |
| Youth Worker | 14 | $19.00/hr |
| Caregiver | 17 | $18.25/hr |
Applying for behavior technician jobs?
- Behavior technician resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find behavior technician jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Registered Behavior Technician make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 19 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.