Hayward, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

802, the Use Regulations for Hayward's Commercial Districts, and defines the letter codes governing every listed use: P designates permitted uses, A designates uses permitted after review and approval of an Administrative Use Permit, C designates uses requiring a Conditional Use Permit, M requires a Major Conditional Use Permit, and a dash means the use is not allowed. Under the Personal Services category, the Tattoo row reads Tattoo, dash, dash, A, A, P, P across the six district columns RO, CO, CN-R, CN, CG, and CB.

That means a tattoo parlor cannot open in the Residential-Office or Commercial Office Districts at all, needs an Administrative Use Permit in the Neighborhood Commercial-Residential and Commercial Neighborhood Districts, and is a permitted by-right use in the General Commercial and Central Business Districts. The Zoning Ordinance separately defines Tattoo Parlor as an establishment which provides a tattooing service to customers, and notes it may include body piercing as an ancillary use, meaning a single permit covers combined tattoo-and-piercing storefronts. Hayward's Industrial District use table applies a different scheme: Tattoo Parlor requires an Administrative Use Permit in one industrial subdistrict and is barred from the other two listed.

A tattoo business that also proposes a massage component triggers the separate, more restrictive Massage Establishment classification, which requires a Conditional Use Permit in every commercial district under the same table.