Montgomery, AL Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Chapter 6, Article IV of the City Code regulates massage parlors, defined at Section 6-131 as any establishment other than a licensed hospital or dispensary where nonmedical manipulative massage is performed by someone other than a physician, osteopath, chiropractor, or certified massage therapist with over 500 hours of training. Section 6-161 states plainly that no massage parlor shall be opened to members of the public or operated for any other purpose without the owner first having obtained a license from the city. 00 a year, non-transferable between parlors.

Before that license issues, Section 6-162 requires a physician's written verification, dated within 20 days of application, that the applicant and each individual masseur or attendant is free of contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, renewed at every license renewal. Section 6-136 bars anyone convicted of a felony at any time, or of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude within the last 36 months, from owning, managing, or working at a massage parlor. Parlors must stay open to police inspection at all times under Section 6-132, may not operate behind locked doors or let staff massage clients of the opposite sex under Section 6-134, cannot double as a dormitory under Section 6-135, and must post a sign at least three inches tall reading licensed masseur or licensed masseuse under Section 6-137.