Beaufort County, SC Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

250 sets four standards for any tattoo or body piercing facility in unincorporated Beaufort County. The separation standard requires a minimum of 1,000 feet, measured property line to property line, from any residential development, church, school, public building, or day care center, the same institutional buffer used for adult-oriented businesses elsewhere in the code. A separate spacing standard requires at least 500 feet, also property line to property line, between one tattoo or body piercing facility and another, preventing clusters of the use even where the underlying zoning district allows it.

Access to the site must come from an interior street within the development rather than from an exterior local, collector, or arterial road, pushing the use away from through-traffic corridors. Finally, before Beaufort County will issue a land development permit for the use, the applicant must first obtain all permits required by SCDHEC or any other federal, state, or local government department or agency with rules governing tattoo or body piercing facilities, meaning the state health permit is a prerequisite to the county land use approval rather than a parallel, independent process. 20.