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

National totals

What this specialty covers

The behavior technician is a paraprofessional who practices under the close, ongoing supervision of a behavior analyst or assistant behavior analyst certified by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and/or credentialed by a state (such as through licensure). The behavior technician is primarily responsible for the implementation of components of behavior-analytic treatment plans developed by the supervisor. That may include collecting data on treatment targets and conducting certain types of behavioral assessments (e.g., stimulus preference assessments). The behavior technician does not design treatment or assessment plans or procedures but provides services as assigned by the supervisor responsible for his or her work.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, a sole-proprietor record may indicate an individual billing or enrollment arrangement, but it does not establish that the technician practices independently because the NUCC definition places the role under close, ongoing supervision. The 19.9% share, based on 105,352 self-reported NPPES sole-proprietor flags, is therefore an imperfect proxy for private practice and should not be read as a measure of employment setting or clinical independence.

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.
• NPI records are administrative identifiers, not a direct count of unique people, jobs, full-time equivalents, or service volume.
• This view uses the primary taxonomy only, so providers listing Behavior Technician as a secondary taxonomy are not included.
• 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