Kansas City, MO Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)
Key Facts
- Operator license
- Required, renews Jan. 1 yearly
- Employee/massagist permit fee
- $10 per year
- Massagist training
- 70 credit hours or 1,000-hr apprenticeship
- Business hours limit
- Closed midnight to 6 a.m.
- Residential premises
- No license issued there
Summary
Kansas City requires a Bureau of Liquor Control license to operate a massage shop and a separate $10 permit for every massagist and employee, renewed annually.
No person shall operate a massage shop, nude modeling studio or body painting artists establishment, without first having obtained a license therefor approved by the supervisor of liquor control pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. Each license shall be renewable on January 1 of each year thereafter. Applications for license renewals shall be made by December 1 of the year preceding the new license year. If the renewal application has not been made by December 1, the license of such establishment shall automatically be suspended until such application has been made.
(Code of Gen. Ords. 1967, § 8.2; Ord. No. 47656, 5-6-77)
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 139 | Zoning and Development Code: Supplement 38).
Full Breakdown
No one may operate a massage shop, nude modeling studio, or body painting artists establishment without an operator's license approved by the supervisor of liquor control, renewable each January 1 (§ 42-61). Every employee, including massagists, must separately hold a $10 annual employee permit requiring fingerprints, photographs, a criminal-history disclosure, and a physician's statement of freedom from communicable disease (§ 42-91, § 42-92). Massagists must additionally show 70 academic credit hours from a recognized massage school and pass a city exam, or serve an apprenticeship of 1,000 supervised hours (§ 42-93, § 42-121). No license issues for premises that are primarily a residential dwelling (§ 42-3), and licensed establishments may not operate between midnight and 6:00 a.m. (§ 42-2(7)).
Violations & Fines
Operating or working without the required license or permit is unlawful and punishable under § 1-17; the supervisor of liquor control can also suspend, revoke, or deny a license or permit after notice and hearing (§ 42-41, § 42-8).
Frequently Asked Questions
Who licenses massage businesses in Kansas City?
Do individual massage therapists need their own permit?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Kansas City
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