Entry requirements
Education, examination, and application
- Credential
- Licensed Massage Therapist
- Minimum education
- 500 hours
- Approved education
- Applicants complete a registered 500-hour massage program. Current IDAPA 24.27.01 allocates at least 390 in-class supervised coursework hours and 110 supervised clinical or fieldwork hours; clinical service begins only after 20 percent of instructional hours and remains supervised.
- Examination
- The Board accepts a passing score on MBLEx, NCETMB, NESL, NCETM, or an examination the Board deems equivalent.
- MBLEx relationship
- MBLEx is an accepted national licensing examination; it is not itself the Idaho license.
- Application
- Apply through DOPL, submit the application and fee, document qualifying education and examination, and use the provisional-permit or endorsement path only when its conditions are met.
- Application fees
- Current DOPL fees are $50 application, $130 initial license by examination, $150 initial license by endorsement, $25 provisional permit, $35 reinstatement, and $10 certified license history.
- Background check or fingerprinting
- Idaho Code requires review of relevant criminal history and application disclosures, but the reviewed massage-specific sources do not identify a routine fingerprint submission or separate criminal-history report for every applicant.
- Reciprocity or endorsement
- Licensure by endorsement is available through DOPL and carries a separate fee; the Board compares the applicant's credential and qualifications with Idaho requirements.
- Additional requirements
- No statewide practitioner liability-insurance mandate or separate massage-establishment credential was identified in the current massage chapter, rule, or Board guidance.
Renewal
Renewal and continuing education
- Cycle
- DOPL moved massage licenses to a two-year birthday-based cycle beginning May 19, 2025, using an even- and odd-birth-year transition.
- Deadline model
- After transition, the license expires on the licensee's birthday and renewal may begin up to 60 days before expiration; transition-year duration depends on birth year.
- Fees
- The regular two-year renewal fee is $130; the 2026 transition fee for the one-year even-birth-year interval is $65, and reinstatement is $35.
- Continuing education
- No continuing-education hours are imposed by the operative provisions of the current three-page IDAPA 24.27.01 chapter or the current Board renewal page. The rule preface still generically says the chapter establishes continuing education, so this zero-hour finding should be rechecked at the next review.
- Required subjects
- No recurring massage-specific CE subject requirement is stated in the current operative rule sections.
- Documentation
- No routine massage-specific CE documentation requirement is stated in the current operative rule sections.
- Carryover
- Carryover is not applicable because no current massage-specific CE hour requirement was identified.
- Late renewal
- An expired license may be reinstated with the applicable licensing and reinstatement fees; DOPL warns that practice requires an active license.
- Inactive license
- The reviewed current Board page provides renewal and reinstatement, but no separate massage inactive-status election was identified.
Practice information
Scope, titles, and local requirements
- Scope of practice
- Idaho Code chapter 40 defines massage therapy as compensated structured touch and soft-tissue manipulation within the statutory scope.
- Protected titles
- Practice and protected massage-therapy titles require an Idaho license, subject to statutory exemptions.
- Restrictions
- Clinical work remains supervised and licensees follow the incorporated NCBTMB code of ethics except the excluded provision.
- Municipal or local requirements
- Section 54-4015 limits local occupational qualification requirements but does not displace generally applicable local business, zoning, public-health, or safety rules.
- Establishments and other regulated activities
- No separate statewide massage-establishment license was identified in chapter 40, IDAPA 24.27.01, or the current Board application page.
- Practitioner notes
- Use DOPL's license search and complaint links for credential verification and regulatory concerns.
Change history
Public record revisions
Future verified changes will be listed from this Git-backed record.