San Antonio, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Table 311-2, the citywide Nonresidential Use Matrix adopted under Sec. 35-311 of the Unified Development Code, lists "Tattoo Parlor/Studio" and "Body Piercing" as separate rows under the "Service" use category. 5, O-2, NC, C-1, C-2, D, L, I-1, and I-2, is blank for both rows. Sec. 35-311(c) defines a blank cell to mean the use "is not allowed within the respective zoning district, unless it is otherwise expressly allowed by other regulations of this chapter," and Sec. 35-311(b)(1) bars issuance of any building permit for a use not specifically authorized in the matrix for that district.

"C-3" is defined in the district-name table as "General Commercial," the city's most permissive standard commercial classification, sitting above "C-1" Light Commercial and "C-2" Commercial in intensity. A tattoo or piercing business proposing to locate in a C-1 or C-2 storefront, an office district, or a neighborhood-commercial node therefore has no by-right path under this table and would need a zoning change to C-3 (or an authorized planned unit/mixed-use district carrying equivalent use rights) before Development Services can issue permits. The UDC's own definition of "tattoo" in Sec.

35-A101 describes "the practice of producing an indelible mark or figure on the human body by scarring or inserting a pigment under the skin using needles, scalpels, or other related equipment," expressly excluding "the application of permanent cosmetics" from that regulated category.