Salinas, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Municipal Code Section 19-35, "Miscellaneous businesses enumerated," lists pawnbroker among the trades taxed at a fixed annual rate rather than by gross receipts: $500 per annum, separate from bootblack ($25), handyman ($50), route salesman ($50) and warehouse space ($100). - Repealed by Ordinance No. 2299 (NCS)" where those pawnbroker-specific rules once stood. What remains of Chapter 23 is Article II, which regulates junk dealers and secondhand goods sellers; Section 23-22 separately bars any junk shop or junk yard owner from taking pledges or pawns on the same premises as the junk business.

Like every other Chapter 19 licensee, a pawnbroker must post the license certificate conspicuously at the business premises (Sec. 19-19) and pay by the chapter's standard due dates, February 1 for gross-receipts licenses or August 1 for other annual licenses (Sec. 19-20). Pawnbrokers also fall under the city's zoning code, which requires a conditional use permit for a pawn shop in commercial districts and bars any pawnshop from locating within 750 feet of another pawn shop.