Business Licensing & Operations in Alabama (2026)

The City of Decatur, Alabama prohibits the operation of a sexually oriented business in the city and its police…

Huntsville prohibits nudity or sexual conduct at any business holding a city alcohol license, effectively barring strip…

In unincorporated Madison County, any bar, lounge, club, nightclub or restaurant that features topless female…

In unincorporated Mobile County, alcohol-licensed establishments cannot feature nude or semi-nude servers, live…

Tuscaloosa Code Sec. 3-18.2 makes it unlawful for anyone to perform nude or nearly nude, exposing genitals, buttocks…

Auburn bars adult entertainment facilities, adult bookstores, escort agencies, and unlicensed massage parlors alike…

Bessemer confines adult entertainment businesses to its AE district and imposes a 1,500-foot buffer from churches…

Birmingham requires a permit from the Department of Planning, Engineering and Permits before any adult bookstore…

In the City of Dothan, an adult bookstore, adult video store, adult theater or adult nightclub falls under the zoning…

Jefferson County's Zoning Resolution bars adult establishments from locating within 1,000 feet of any religious…

Mobile bars new adult entertainment enterprises within 1,000 feet of a church, school, park, or home and within 2,000…

Bessemer requires every massage parlor to hold a city business license naming each masseur, masseuse and attendant…

Birmingham requires every massage parlor to hold a city business license before opening, priced on a sliding scale of…

Massage therapy establishments in Hoover need a state establishment license, a state therapist license, and a city…

Huntsville requires anyone operating a massage parlor to obtain a business license from the city clerk-treasurer before…

Operating a massage parlor in unincorporated Mobile County without a license from the county governing body is unlawful…

Montgomery requires every massage parlor to hold a city license before opening to the public, priced on a sliding scale…

Any Tuscaloosa massage parlor must hold a city license before opening under Code Sec. 13-83, pass a physician's health…

Anyone operating a massage parlor in Mobile must hold a city business license under the privilege license schedule…

Vestavia Hills requires massage parlors to hold three approvals before opening: a State of Alabama Board of Massage…

Huntsville's zoning code names tattoo and body piercing parlors as a use it will not allow inside its core business…

Tattoo parlors operating in the City of Dothan must buy a $100.00 annual business license under NAICS code 812199 and…

Tattoo and tattoo-parlor businesses in Mobile, Alabama must buy an annual business license under NAICS code 812197…

Tattoo establishments are a permitted-by-right use in Tuscaloosa's General Commercial and Highway Commercial districts…

Alabama regulates the retail sale of vapor products and electronic nicotine devices through Code Section 28-11-13…

Tuscaloosa's zoning ordinance keeps tobacco and vape shops spaced out: no tobacco or vape shop can open within 1,000…

Any retail dealer in Birmingham selling tobacco products, whether or not tobacco is the main stock in trade, must hold…

Every distributor or seller of consumable vapor products in Dothan must pay a city license tax of $0.10 per milliliter…

Every retail dealer in cigars, cigarettes, smoking or chewing tobacco, snuff or other tobacco products in Hoover must…

Huntsville requires a city license and per-package privilege fee -- tax stamps for cigarettes -- before any dealer can…

Every vape shop in Mobile must hold a city business license plus a $150 annual vapor-product registration, and pay a…

Montgomery classifies cigar shops, e-cigarette retailers and vape shops under NAICS code 459991 in its business license…

Auburn requires every pawnbroker and secondhand dealer to obtain a license from the city manager and pay a $500 annual…

Anyone buying secondhand gold or silver in the City of Dothan needs a police-investigated permit plus a city business…

Huntsville requires anyone buying, selling, or bartering secondhand goods or precious metals to hold a city business…

Anyone running a junkyard or similar salvage business within 1,000 feet of a public road in unincorporated Lee County…

Anyone running a junkyard within 1,000 feet of a highway right-of-way in unincorporated Madison County needs a county…

Mobile requires every dealer in secondhand articles to register with the police chief before opening, keep serialized…

Buying secondhand gold or silver items, jewelry, flatware, or bric-a-brac in Mobile County requires a $500 annual…

Every pawnbroker or secondhand dealer in Montgomery must report all pawned or purchased personal property to the police…

Secondhand and junk dealers in Tuscaloosa hold a Used Merchandise business license and must report every transaction to…

Vestavia Hills requires anyone buying gold, silver, or gold and silver objects, including cash-for-gold and pawn-style…

Junk dealers in Bessemer cannot buy scrap metal, brass, iron, lead, or tools from a minor without written parental or…

Birmingham requires every secondhand dealer to log each purchase, sale, or exchange of used goods, check the seller's…

Section 16-20 of the Decatur City Code makes anyone buying precious metals or precious stones in the city or its police…

Every secondhand dealer and pawnbroker doing business in Hoover must keep a permanently bound or electronic ledger…

Auburn requires pawnbrokers, second-hand dealers and precious-metals buyers to hold a $500 annual business license…

A pawnbroker or title loan business in the City of Decatur, Alabama, must hold its State of Alabama license and pay a…

Pawnbrokers in the City of Dothan do not need a separate stand-alone pawnbroker permit process beyond the standard…

Unincorporated Jefferson County treats pawn shops as a restricted use confined to the C-1 Commercial District under the…

Mobile requires every pawnbroker to post a $1,000 city bond, keep a detailed log of pawned goods, and report…

Pawnbrokers in Tuscaloosa are licensed under the Pawnshop NAICS classification and regulated as "secondhand dealers"…

Bessemer pawnbrokers follow the Alabama Pawnshop Act's definitions under Code of Ordinances section 86-44 and must hold…

Birmingham licenses pawnbrokers and pawnbroker's agents under Schedule 189 of the Appendix A business license schedule…

Hoover requires a city permit and license before anyone buys or offers to buy gold or silver, or lends money against…

Huntsville requires a business license for every pawnbroker, priced on annual gross interest receipts under the city's…

Auburn's Zoning Ordinance flatly prohibits running a vehicle repair operation out of a home: Section 511.04(B)(13) bars…

In the City of Decatur, Alabama, minor or major auto repair is on the list of uses that shall not be home occupations…

In the City of Dothan, running an automobile repair or service operation out of a house is not allowed in any…

Jefferson County's home-occupation rule flatly excludes auto repair from the businesses a resident may run out of a…

Tuscaloosa's zoning ordinance does not allow light vehicle repair, the classification covering auto body work…

Hoover's zoning ordinance limits home occupations to office work or personal-service businesses, which shuts out an…

Lee County's Zoning Regulations classify vehicle repair as a commercial use, not a home occupation. Section 8.4 limits…

Montgomery makes it a nuisance to restore or repair a motor vehicle in the front yard of any residential building…

Vestavia Hills has no auto-repair-specific home-business rule, but the general home-occupation limitations block it…

Birmingham requires every towing and vehicle immobilization service to hold a city license before booting or towing a…

In the City of Decatur, Alabama, wrecker operators need a city business license and a police-issued inspection permit…

Hoover bans wrecker operators from responding to accident calls picked up on police radio scanners, from soliciting…

Mobile requires wrecker companies to hold a city permit, pass a vehicle inspection, carry required insurance, and show…

Towing companies operating in Montgomery, Alabama need a business license issued only after the city council passes a…

Tuscaloosa caps what a towing company can charge for a nonconsensual tow from private property: $208 for vehicles up to…

Auburn licenses wheel-locking and towing companies under City Code Article XIII, capping fees at $75 to wheel lock and…

Bessemer requires the wrecker company handling a police-ordered impound to collect established towing and storage fees…

Wrecker and towing companies operating in the City of Dothan must buy a $50.00 annual business license under NAICS code…

Huntsville tow companies must report every private-property, non-owner-requested tow to police within one hour and file…

In unincorporated Lee County outside Auburn, a property owner or lessee may tow or wheel-lock any vehicle parked…