Business Licensing & Operations in New Mexico (2026)

Any sexually oriented business in Albuquerque, adult cabarets, bookstores, and similar live-entertainment venues, must…

Bernalillo County requires an annual county license to operate a sexually oriented business, and its zoning code keeps…

Adult bookstores and adult entertainment uses in unincorporated Doña Ana County must sit at least 1,000 feet from any…

Adult bookstores, adult video stores and adult amusement establishments can only locate in Las Cruces' M1/M2 and M-3…

Rio Rancho confines adult bookstores, theaters, and entertainment centers to C-1 retail commercial zoning and bars all…

Sandoval County allows adult bookstores, adult theaters and adult live entertainment establishments only as an approved…

Santa Fe bans sexually oriented businesses from residential districts and requires a 1,000-foot buffer from schools…

Las Cruces treats massage therapy as a home occupation under Land Development Code Section 38-52(C)(2), letting a…

Sandoval County treats a massage parlor as a Special Use District and forbids operating one on the same premises as a…

Doña Ana County has no standalone massage establishment license; it regulates massage therapy only as a home occupation…

Santa Fe defines a 'massage parlor' as any business with two or more people performing massage, and licenses it like…

Albuquerque's Integrated Development Ordinance allows massage businesses wherever the zoning use table permits them, on…

Las Cruces has no separate tattoo parlor license in its municipal code; the only local rule targets the customer's age…

Tattoo parlors are named on Rio Rancho's prohibited home-occupation list, so tattooing cannot legally operate as a…

Albuquerque requires separate annual permits for body art establishments and individual operators, bars body art on…

In unincorporated Doña Ana County, tattoo and body-piercing parlors cannot operate as a home occupation. Unified…

New Mexico requires retailers selling electronic cigarettes and vape products to obtain tobacco licenses, comply with…

Albuquerque's zoning code treats vape shops and other nicotine retailers as an ordinary commercial use, but keeps them…

Bernalillo County does not issue a separate tobacco or vape retailer license, but it bans selling any tobacco or…

Las Cruces requires retail tobacco stores opened after June 29, 2019 to sit in a standalone building and bans…

Sandoval County does not issue a separate tobacco retail license; it regulates tobacco sellers through Chapter 8's…

Santa Fe bars retailers from selling tobacco products by any method other than a direct, face-to-face exchange and bans…

Albuquerque requires pawnbrokers, precious material dealers, secondhand retailers, and automated kiosks to get an…

Bernalillo County requires pawnbrokers, secondhand dealers and precious metals dealers in unincorporated areas to get a…

Secondhand dealers in unincorporated Doña Ana County are certificate holders under Chapter 268: they must file a daily…

Secondhand dealers in Las Cruces must report every item bought or traded to police through LeadsOnline and hold…

Rio Rancho, New Mexico requires dealers in secondhand goods to hold a city license before operating, one of eleven…

Santa Fe requires anyone who buys or sells secondhand goods, junk, core parts or precious metals to hold a city…

Anyone operating as a pawnbroker, precious material dealer, secondhand retailer, or automated kiosk in Albuquerque must…

Pawnbrokers, secondhand dealers and precious metals dealers in unincorporated Bernalillo County cannot operate without…

Pawnbrokers in unincorporated Doña Ana County must register under the Business Registration Fee Ordinance, post a…

Pawnbrokers in Rio Rancho need a City Clerk permit, business registration, and a $5,000 bond before opening, renewed…

Sandoval County confines pawn shops to its Major Commercial (C-3) district and only as a conditional use, prohibiting…

Santa Fe requires every pawnbroker to hold a city business license under City Code Section 18-4, pay a $250 annual fee…

Every pawnbroker in Las Cruces must hold a $100 annual business license, post a $5,000 surety bond with the city, and…

Las Cruces will not register auto repair, motorcycle repair, lawn mower repair or other large-item repair work as a…

Rio Rancho's home occupation ordinance flatly prohibits motor vehicle sales, rental, repair, and painting as a…

Albuquerque routes police-ordered, non-consensual tows through a wrecker rotation list divided by city sector. To…

Wrecker companies must register with the Santa Fe Police Department and join a rotating towing list before responding…

Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputies can order a non-consent tow when a stranded vehicle's owner can't be found; a…

Wrecker companies that want police-requested tows in Las Cruces must register with the police department, pass…

Only a sheriff's deputy or authorized county employee may order a wrecker to impound a vehicle in unincorporated…