Business Licensing & Operations in Pennsylvania (2026)

Pottstown confines adult entertainment businesses to the HM Heavy Manufacturing zoning district and keeps them at least…

Allentown's zoning ordinance treats adult bookstores, adult theaters, and cabarets as a special-exception commercial…

Bensalem Township confines adult establishments and sexually-oriented businesses to general industrial districts and…

No one can operate an adult business in Bristol Borough without a permit from the Code Enforcement Officer. The permit…

Operating an adult business in Bristol Township takes a permit from the Code Enforcement Officer under Chapter 49, and…

Erie's zoning ordinance keeps adult bookstores, adult theaters and massage parlors at least 750 feet from each other…

In the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, an adult establishment is allowed only by special exception in the IND Zoning…

In Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, an adult-oriented business is a permitted conditional use decided by the…

In Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, an Adult-Oriented Use must sit at least 500 feet from schools…

Sexually oriented establishments in Penn Hills must sit at least 1,000 feet from another such business, 400 feet from…

Philadelphia zones adult cabarets, adult bookstores, adult theaters and similar businesses as "regulated uses" that…

Pittsburgh zones adult entertainment businesses at least 1,000 feet apart from each other and 500 feet from schools…

Reading confines sexually oriented businesses to HM Heavy Manufacturing zoning and bars them within 1,000 feet of…

Lower Merion Township's Zoning Code lists adult entertainment as a regulated use only in the LI Light Industrial…

Abington Township requires every massage establishment to register with and be licensed by the Township before opening…

Bensalem's Chapter 142 bars any massage business, health center, or health salon from letting a masseur or masseuse…

In Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania, massage therapy is a defined zoning use in § 27-320: an establishment whose primary…

No one in Bristol Township, Bucks County, can run a massage business without a massage business license from the Office…

Bucks County requires every massage or alternative therapy business to register with and be licensed by the County…

Philadelphia requires an operator's license from Licenses and Inspections for anyone working as a masseur or masseuse…

Pittsburgh's zoning code classifies massage establishments as an Adult Entertainment use, requiring a license from the…

A massage therapy center in Pottstown is a conditional use under the zoning code, and every therapist must hold a valid…

Reading requires anyone who acts as a massage therapist to hold a City permit issued by the Health Officer under…

Bensalem's Planned Commerce Park Unified Development (PCD-UD) District, the zoning classification covering large…

In Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, tattooing and body piercing fall under Use D23 Personal Service Establishment. The…

In the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, no one can run a tattoo or body piercing establishment without a license from…

Lower Merion Township requires anyone operating a tattoo or body piercing business to hold a premises license from the…

Philadelphia bars tattoo, piercing and body art shops from serving minors without parental consent and requires Board…

Pottstown zones tattoo, piercing, branding, and scarification services as "Personal Care Business - B." The use is…

Reading requires a City health permit before any tattoo, body piercing, or body art establishment can operate, with…

Scranton zoning defines a tattoo parlor broadly enough to cover cosmetic tattooing and permits the use by right in four…

Pennsylvania regulates electronic cigarettes and vape products under Act 84 of 2016, imposing a 40 percent wholesale…

Bensalem Township confines tobacco shops and smoke shops, including vape and e-cigarette retailers, to general…

In Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, a premises with more than 250 square feet dedicated to cigarettes, cigars…

In Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a vape shop, smoke shop or other significant tobacco retailer is…

Lower Merion Township's zoning code creates a special use category called Significant Tobacco Retailer covering vape…

Hookah bars and lounges in Penn Hills need a 1,200-foot buffer from schools, churches, parks and other hookah lounges…

A vape shop, smoke shop or tobacco store can open in Pottstown only as a Special Exception use in the Highway Business…

Upper Darby treats any store devoting 15% or more of retail floor space to tobacco or vaping products as a smoke shop…

Philadelphia requires every tobacco retailer to hold a Tobacco Retailer Permit, one per fixed location, renewed…

Pittsburgh zoning treats smoke, vape, and CBD shops as a 'Retail: Tobacco, Inhalant, and Cannabinoids' use, barring…

Allentown Code § 430-3 requires secondhand dealers to hold an annual $100 permit from the Bureau of Police, with…

Bensalem Township requires every secondhand and antique dealer to hold a license from the Building and Planning…

In Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, a secondhand dealer or antique dealer is any business, including an itinerant…

Chapter 95 of the Lower Merion Township Code requires anyone buying or selling junk, rubber, rags, scrap metal or…

In Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, junk, antique and secondhand dealers must keep every article on…

Penn Hills requires antique and secondhand dealers to get a license from the License Officer, file a sworn police…

Pittsburgh requires a License Officer permit before buying and selling secondhand goods or antiques, with mandatory…

Scranton requires anyone buying scrap gold, jewelry, electronics, tools, firearms, and other secondhand goods to hold a…

In the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, § 3-359.2 covers anyone who buys or sells used goods, from antiques and…

Junk and secondhand-material dealers in Philadelphia must license, photo-ID sellers, and keep two years of transaction…

Every pawnbroker, junk dealer and secondhand-goods dealer in Reading must deliver a daily written report of all items…

Allentown Code § 430-2 bars anyone from operating as a pawnbroker without an annual permit from the Bureau of Police…

Bensalem pawnbrokers must first hold a Pennsylvania pawnbroker license under the 1937 state pawnbroker act before the…

In Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania, a pawn shop must be located no less than 1,000 feet from any residential use or…

Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, requires a license from its Licenses and Inspections Department for each location where…

In Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Chapter 137, Article III controls pawnbrokers through records…

Pawnbrokers need a separate L&I license per location, plus state licensure, and must follow strict hours and holding…

Pittsburgh requires anyone lending on pledged goods to hold a pawnbroker license, keep a daily transaction log, and…

No one may run a pawnbroker business in Pottstown without a license issued under Chapter 13, Sections 301(B) and 601 of…

Bethlehem pawnbrokers, jewelers, and any merchant taking in second-hand jewelry, coins, precious metals, or goods must…

Erie doesn't license pawnshops through a separate permit process, it makes them report to police instead. Codified…

In the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, § 3-359.1 requires every pawnbroker to keep a legibly written book of each…

Reading levies an annual $400 municipal license tax on every pawnbroker operating in the city, collected by the Finance…

Allentown's home-occupation rules flatly prohibit any assembly, cleaning, maintenance, painting, or repair of vehicles…

Erie's zoning use tables list 'Auto repair shop' as a permitted use only in the M-1 Light Manufacturing and M-2 Heavy…

Lower Merion Township excludes automobile, motorcycle, and lawnmower repair from the one home-based repair-services use…

Pittsburgh's zoning code specifically bans auto and other vehicle repair as a home occupation, so residents cannot…

Pottstown's zoning code flatly excludes vehicle and boat repair or painting shops from the home occupation rules…

Running an auto repair business from a house in Reading isn't allowed as a home occupation: the zoning code's…

Upper Darby flatly prohibits vehicle repair as a home occupation. It is one of twelve uses listed in § 550-41C that…

Bristol Borough bans lubricating, oil changes, repairs, servicing and engine or drive train dismantling of any motor…

In the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, repairs to motor vehicles in a residential district are allowed only if the…

In Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, vehicle repair cannot be run as a home occupation. Section…

Philadelphia's Zoning Code caps home occupations to six named categories: offices, licensed health practitioners…

Bristol Township's nuisance chapter, enacted by Township Council, permits a vehicle to undergo repair only if the work…

In Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, a residential garage or accessory structure cannot be used for…

Scranton zoning caps vehicle work on residential property to minor maintenance only: oil and fluid changes, wiper…

Abington Township requires every towing service to hold a Township license before removing a vehicle from public or…

Tow operators pulling cars off private property in Allentown must be city-registered, carry $1 million liability…

Bensalem Township caps active licensed towers at ten per year and requires anyone offering towing services to the…

In Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, a wrecker cannot join the police tow rotation or offer towing to the Township…

In the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Codified Ordinances fix what a salvor can charge to reclaim a vehicle…

In Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, no towing service can remove a vehicle from private property…

No towing company may haul a vehicle off private property in Lower Merion Township without the owner's consent unless…

In Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, police-ordered tows and vehicle storage can only be done by removal…

Penn Hills only dispatches private tow companies under Council contract, and each contractor must post a $10,000 bond…

Licensed towing companies need written property-owner permission and posted signage before towing an unauthorized…

Any tow business or operator doing non-consensual (trespass) tows in Pittsburgh must hold a City Tow Business License…

Chapter 15, Part 7 of the Pottstown Borough Code limits removal and impoundment of illegally parked vehicles to Class I…

Any towing company that tows vehicles at Scranton's request must hold an annual public towing license under City Code…

Bethlehem's Police Commissioner and Parking Authority order non-consent tows of illegally parked vehicles and of…

In Bristol Borough, vehicles removed and impounded under Chapter 15 can be towed only by approved storage garages…

Any wrecker service pulling a vehicle off private property in Erie without the owner's consent must phone the Bureau of…

In Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, only township-approved storage garages may tow and store vehicles…

Reading caps what a private towing company can charge to remove an unauthorized vehicle from posted private property…