Oregon, OH Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing chapter
- Zoning Code Ch. 1103 & 1141
- Only permitted district
- M-2 General Industrial
- Residential buffer
- 1,500 feet
- School/library buffer
- 1,500 feet
- Other SOB buffer
- 1,500 feet
- Exempt professions
- MD, DC, DO, PT, licensed by Ohio
Summary
Oregon, Ohio does not run a separate massage-parlor license. Instead its zoning code folds "massage establishments" into the definition of sexually oriented businesses, so any storefront offering paid massage outside a licensed medical exemption must site itself as an SOB, which the code confines to the M-2 General Industrial District with a web of distance buffers.
“Massage establishment” means any establishment having a fixed place of business where massages are administered for pay, including but not limited to, massage parlors, health clubs, sauna baths and steam baths. This definition shall not be construed to include hospitals, nursing homes, medical clinics or the offices of a physician, surgeon, chiropractor, osteopath or physical therapist duly licensed by the State of Ohio, nor barber shops or beauty salons in which massages are administered only to the scalp, face, neck or shoulders. ... (b) Sexually oriented businesses as defined in Section 1103.79 et. seq. with the following conditions. (1) No Sexually Oriented Business shall be established within 1500 feet of any area or zoning district used for any residential purpose or use. (2) No Sexually Oriented Business shall be established within a radius of 1500 feet of any school, library or teaching facility, whether public or private, attended by persons under eighteen (18) years of age.
Full Breakdown
City Code Chapter 1103's definitions section defines a "massage establishment" as any fixed place of business where massages are administered for pay, expressly naming massage parlors, health clubs, sauna baths and steam baths. 79(e)). 79's broader "sexually oriented businesses" category, a for-pay massage business that does not fit one of those carve-outs is zoned as an SOB. Chapter 1141, the M-2 General Industrial District's permitted-uses section, is the only district where the code lists sexually oriented businesses as a permitted use, and it attaches numbered siting conditions: no such business within 1500 feet of any residentially used area or district, within 1500 feet of any school, library or teaching facility serving minors, within 1500 feet of any other sexually oriented business, within 1000 feet of two or more of a list of adult-adjacent uses (topless clubs, on-premises liquor establishments, pawn shops, pool halls, arcades, dance halls), or within 1500 feet of a church or synagogue attended by minors.
The section also bars street-visible advertising or displays and requires building openings to be arranged so the interior cannot be viewed from public sidewalks or streets, plus compliance with Chapter 1157 off-street parking standards.
Violations & Fines
Operating a massage business that meets the Section 1103.79(e) definition outside the M-2 District, or inside M-2 without meeting the Section 1141.02(b) distance buffers, is a zoning violation enforceable by the Commissioner of Building and Zoning, who may deny or revoke a zoning certificate and refer the matter for prosecution as a zoning-code violation under Chapter 1105's enforcement-and-penalty provisions. A business claiming the licensed-professional or barber/beauty-salon exemption in Section 1103.79(e) must be able to show it fits that carve-out or it is treated as an unpermitted sexually oriented business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I open a massage business anywhere in Oregon, Ohio?
Does a licensed massage therapist working for a chiropractor need to follow this rule?
How far must a massage establishment be from a school in Oregon, Ohio?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Oregon
Compare Oregon to another location·View the Ohio business licensing & operations overview
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Massage Establishments in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Lucas County handle massage establishments.