Midland, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Midland Code of Ordinances Chapter 5-13, adopted by Ordinance 10608 on April 8, 2025, runs a two-track system. A plain "massage establishment" offering massage therapy only needs the state license the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation issues under Occupations Code Chapter 455. A "restricted massage establishment" -- one where three or more arrests or citations for prostitution, promotion of prostitution, or related Penal Code offenses occurred on-site, where such an offense produced a conviction, or where a prior operator or the location itself was sanctioned under Chapter 455 -- must also hold a City of Midland license under Section 5-13-4(A).

An applicant submits owner names, addresses and dates of birth, a premises floorplan, notarized owner statements pledging to prevent trafficking and prostitution offenses, and the property owner's notarized consent. The city manager may direct the police chief to run criminal-history checks and may solicit written comments from property owners within 200 feet before deciding, and must issue or deny the license within 45 days; silence counts as a denial. A license runs two years and cannot be assigned or transferred with the property. , ban alcohol on the premises, bar registered sex offenders from working there, and consent to inspections by police, fire, health and code administration staff, capped at once every 60 days. An owner with a qualifying criminal-history trigger can ask the city manager for a council-level exemption from the license requirement rather than closing.