Delaware massage licensing record

State credentials do not replace generally applicable local business, zoning, premises, health, or safety requirements.

• Official application
• Official renewal information
• Official statutes or rules

Local business, facility, zoning, and professional rules may apply in addition to statewide requirements. Confirm current requirements with the responsible authority before acting.

Credential

Licensed Massage Therapist

Minimum education

625 hours

Approved education

For applications received on or after July 1, 2024, the licensed massage therapist pathway requires 625 hours: 100 anatomy and physiology, 300 massage theory and technique, 200 electives, and 25 ethics, law, contraindications, and related subjects.

Examination

The active rule requires MBLEx for the licensed massage therapist pathway. An older sentence on the Board application page still references NCBTMB documentation and is retained as a bounded agency-page conflict.

MBLEx relationship

MBLEx is the current rule-based examination requirement and does not replace education, CPR, background screening, application, or the Delaware license.

Application

Apply in DELPROS with official transcript and school catalog, MBLEx evidence, current adult CPR certification, state approvals for the education program, and the required state and federal criminal-history background check.

Application fees

The Board's current fee schedule lists a $175 licensed massage therapist application fee. Renewal is charged through DELPROS, but the public fee page does not publish the current renewal amount; late renewal adds 50 percent of the renewal fee.

Background check or fingerprinting

Licensed massage therapist applicants complete state and federal criminal-history screening through the Division's approved fingerprinting process.

Reciprocity or endorsement

An out-of-state licensee applies through DELPROS and must establish the education, examination, credential, and other evidence required by the Board; no automatic practice privilege is inferred.

Additional requirements

Applicants maintain current adult CPR certification. No statewide practitioner professional-liability insurance mandate was identified in chapter 53 or the active rule.

Cycle

Massage therapist licenses renew biennially and expire August 31 of even-numbered years.

Deadline model

Complete renewal in DELPROS before August 31 of the even-numbered renewal year and maintain current CPR certification.

Fees

The renewal fee is displayed in the licensee's DELPROS record rather than the public fee page. A late renewal adds 50 percent of the renewal fee.

Continuing education

Renewal requires 24 hours of approved continuing education in each biennial period.

Required subjects

The 24 hours include at least three hours of ethics and at least nine hours of hands-on core education; the balance may be qualifying core or elective work.

Documentation

Licensees retain CE documentation and submit it when selected for audit through the Division's renewal process.

Carryover

The active rule states that hours do not carry over. No more than 12 hours may be completed online, and the hands-on core minimum must be completed in person.

Late renewal

A license may be renewed late for up to one year with the late fee; after that period it terminates and the person must reapply under current requirements.

Inactive license

Delaware permits inactive status through DELPROS; inactive licensees may not practice and must meet reactivation requirements before returning to active practice.

Scope of practice

Title 24, chapter 53 and 24 DE Admin. Code 5300 define the regulated practice and professional-conduct boundary.

Protected titles

The licensed massage therapist title and regulated practice require a current Delaware credential.

Restrictions

Licensees follow sanitation, records, draping, consent, scope, CPR, and professional-conduct requirements.

Municipal or local requirements

State licensure and establishment licensing coexist with generally applicable local business, zoning, premises, health, and safety rules.

Establishments and other regulated activities

Massage establishments require a separate Board license, with operating, posting, inspection, and temporary-establishment provisions in section 12 of the active rule.

Practitioner notes

Use DELPROS for license verification, renewal, and complaint resources. The active rule controls the current examination pathway; confirm the live application instructions in DELPROS.

• Delaware Board of Massage and Bodywork · accessed 2026-07-29
• Delaware Board — Licensed Massage Therapist Application Requirements · accessed 2026-07-29
• Delaware Code Title 24, Chapter 53 — Massage and Bodywork · accessed 2026-07-29
• 24 DE Admin. Code 5300 — Board of Massage and Bodywork · accessed 2026-07-29
• Delaware Board — Continuing Education and Audit Information · accessed 2026-07-29
• Delaware Board — Renewal and Inactive Status · accessed 2026-07-29
• Delaware Board — Fee Schedule · accessed 2026-07-29
• Delaware House Bill 386 — Massage Education Hours Transition · accessed 2026-07-29
• Delaware Department of Education — Private Business and Trade Schools · accessed 2026-07-29

Future verified changes will be listed from this Git-backed record.