New Orleans, LA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

City Code § 166-152, in the Bourbon Street Tourism Promotion Regulations, makes it "unlawful for any person in the public way of Bourbon Street or on any parcel of property fronting on or designated by a municipal number on Bourbon Street between St. " Section 166-151 defines "tattooing" simply as "the inscription of a tattoo upon the body," with no separate carve-out for licensed studios inside that corridor, the prohibition is location-based, not a health-and-safety licensing scheme. A narrow grandfather exemption in § 166-153 lets a business already operating and holding all applicable city licenses on the ordinance's effective date continue at that specific location, but the exemption ends if the business closes for 90 consecutive days (absent acts of God or similar cause) or if the operator is convicted of failing to pay city or state sales taxes; even then, continuation requires a council resolution after two published notices and a public hearing.

Outside the banned Bourbon Street corridor, the file contains no separate citywide tattoo-parlor licensing or body-art health code, the only groundable New Orleans-specific rule on tattooing is this geographic prohibition.