Santa Cruz County, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Santa Cruz County adopted its bath and massage ordinance under Government Code Sections 51030 through 51034 (SCCC Section 5.08.010). A 'bath or massage establishment' is any fixed place of business where an individual, firm, association, partnership, corporation or combination of individuals provides baths or massages (SCCC Section 5.08.020). The core operating rule is the location buffer at Section 5.08.030: no such establishment may sit within 1,000 feet of another bath or massage establishment doing business, or within 500 feet of property used for an elementary school, junior high school, or public playground.

A business already lawfully operating when the chapter took effect had 180 days to comply with every other requirement, though the location rule itself did not apply retroactively to it (Section 5.08.040). Operators must post a list of services and their costs in an open, conspicuous place, and no owner, operator, responsible managing employee, or masseur/masseuse may perform or offer any service not on that posted list (Section 5.08.050). Conduct rules at Section 5.08.070 forbid administering or offering a bath or massage to anyone under 18 unless a parent or guardian is present, forbid anyone under 18 from working on the premises at all, and forbid selling food or beverages or conducting any other business activity on site.

Section 5.08.060 exempts athletic team trainers, cosmetologists, barbers, and anyone licensed to practice a healing art under Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code (or the Chiropractic Act) while working within that license, but the chapter still reaches an independent contractor who performs massage services for such a licensee's business.