Las Cruces, NM Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Section 38-52 of the Land Development Code lists massage therapy among the 'professional service' home occupations permitted in a Las Cruces residence, alongside barbering, cosmetology and similar personal-service trades. A massage therapist licensed by the State of New Mexico can operate from home, but Section 38-52(C)(2) caps the business at one customer station per property, meaning only one client can be served at a time and no multi-therapist studio is allowed in a residential structure. Like every home occupation, the massage business must first obtain a home occupation business registration from the Community Development Department, may use no more than 25 percent of the dwelling's gross floor area (capped at 500 square feet), cannot change the home's outward appearance beyond a single one-square-foot sign, and cannot schedule more than one customer vehicle at the property at a time.

The same section draws a hard line between an in-home massage therapist and a commercial 'massage parlor.' Section 38-52(C)(2) expressly prohibits massage parlors, along with adult bookstores, tattoo and body-piercing parlors, health and exercise facilities, and fortune-telling businesses, from operating as home occupations under any circumstances, regardless of licensing. A business that goes beyond a single-therapist, appointment-only service, such as one offering multiple treatment rooms, walk-in service or a storefront-style operation, does not qualify as a home occupation and must instead register and locate as a commercial use in a zoning district that permits it, subject to the city's separate commercial business registration and building code requirements.