Santa Fe, NM Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Santa Fe's business license ordinance treats massage the same way it treats pawnbrokers, junk dealers, and secondhand dealers: as a category of business subject to a flat annual license fee rather than a specialized health-board permit. 2 defines massage narrowly, as the practice, for compensation, of full-body massage by hand or mechanical apparatus using techniques such as oil rubs, heat lamps, salt glows, hot and cold packs, and steam baths, and it expressly bars a masseur or masseuse from diagnosing or treating classified diseases, performing spinal or joint manipulation, or prescribing medicine, keeping the license within business regulation rather than medical practice.

A 'massage parlor' under the same subsection is any place of business where massage is performed that employs two or more people, so a solo practitioner working alone falls outside that specific definition even though the massage activity itself is defined. 00 per year for each place of business, the same rate charged to core recyclers, junk dealers, precious metal dealers, and several other categories in the same fee list. The city justifies the whole fee schedule, including this one, as a case-by-case review bearing a reasonable relationship to the cost of regulating each business, and paragraph C makes clear the license is mandatory: it is unlawful to operate any business the section defines as requiring a license, including a massage parlor, within city limits without first obtaining one, under the authority of Sections 3-38-1 through 3-38-6 NMSA 1978. The fee is due before the business opens and, if paid after the calendar year begins, is not prorated.