Macon-Bibb County, GA Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

§ 43-24A-1 et seq. Section 7-271(a) sets the licensing requirements: no one but "a licensed massage therapist shall perform or offer to perform massage in a massage parlor within Macon-Bibb County" (§ 7-271(a)(1)a), and a parlor's county license is void unless every practitioner on the premises holds that state license (§ 7-271(a)(1)b). Separately, "No person shall operate a massage parlor without a valid, current, unrevoked, and unsuspended license from Macon-Bibb County" (§ 7-271(a)(2)). Beyond the therapist credential, an applicant is disqualified if convicted or "entered a plea of nolo contendere for any felony within ten (10) years, or two (2) misdemeanors within five (5) years, other than traffic violations" (§ 7-271(a)(3)).

Operators and license applicants must be at least 18 with a high school diploma or equivalent (§ 7-271(a)(4)), and must be Macon-Bibb County residents, or name a resident agent responsible for the license (§ 7-271(a)(5)). Applicants file with the Tax Commissioner, submit a true copy of each practitioner's state license for inspection, and must notify the Tax Commissioner in writing within 30 days whenever a practitioner leaves (§ 7-271(b)). Licenses expire every March 31 and renew on a calendar-year cycle starting January 1 (§ 7-272).

The county's stated purpose, per § 7-268, is preventing the "illegal sexual conduct, such as solicitation, pandering, pimping, prostitution, sodomy, lewdness" historically associated with unlicensed parlors.