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Arkansas State Guide

Massage Therapy in Arkansas

Explore Arkansas massage licensing requirements, insurance considerations, continuing education, workforce data, and official resources, with dated official sources and scheduled review.

Statewide requirements and local rules are identified separately. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

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Before you act

Details worth confirming

1 reviewed licensing detail should be confirmed before applying or renewing in Arkansas. The licensing record preserves the detailed caution and official context.

  • ApplicationReview needed
Review Arkansas licensing details worth confirming →

Arkansas licensing

Licensing overview

Bounded

State massage therapist license required

State licensure and establishment registration do not displace generally applicable local zoning, business, health, or safety requirements.

View the full Arkansas licensing record →
Regulatory model
State massage therapist license required
Verified

Compact statewide or local regulatory orientation; detailed legal treatment remains in the licensing record.

Regulator
Arkansas Department of Health, Massage Therapy Section
Verified

Current state or local authority identified in the licensing record.

Credential
Licensed Massage Therapist
Verified

Credential title from the canonical licensing record.

Minimum education
500 hours
Verified

Statewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.

Examination
MBLEx or named legacy national examination; Arkansas Massage Therapy Law examination
Bounded

Examination acceptance depends on the reviewed pathway.

Renewal
Active and inactive licenses renew every two years and expire on the licensee's birthday.
Verified

Renewal cadence only; deadlines, fees, and mechanics remain in the licensing record.

Continuing education
18 hours · Eighteen hours are earned within the two-year renewal period.
Verified

Compact legal CE orientation only; subjects, documentation, and renewal mechanics remain in the licensing record.

Education

Massage education in Arkansas

Bounded

Legal education requirements, official starting points, and selected MassageData program records are distinct.

Legal entry requirement

500 hours

Statewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.

Official education starting points

Bounded
educationArkansas massage-school approval and oversight authority

Current 17 CAR § 52-118 establishes Department approval, inspection, curriculum, and operating requirements for massage schools. No current official roster remained reachable during final validation; the Department's December 9, 2024 and January 15, 2025 list URLs both returned 404.

Selected MassageData program records

Bounded

No individual program record cleared this review. That is not evidence that Arkansas has no massage programs.

These are selected records, not a complete school directory. School approval is not the same as massage licensure, accreditation, or a guarantee of outcomes.

Practice and risk

Insurance considerations

Bounded

Legal requirement finding

No statewide practitioner professional-liability mandate was identified. The rule requires liability insurance for students before clinical massage.

The reviewed sources do not support a universal legal conclusion. General information only—not legal, financial, or coverage advice.

Insurance sources

Professional risk context

Separate the legal finding from prudent professional risk management; verify covered modalities, exclusions, defense costs, limits, and policy dates.

Premises, property, employment, cyber, vehicle, and other business exposures are distinct from professional liability and require policy-specific review.

  • Do not infer a legal insurance mandate from common professional practice.
  • Recheck the linked licensing record and the intended practice address.

Questions for an insurer

  • Does the policy satisfy any state or local requirement that applies to this practice?
  • Which modalities, locations, entities, and workers are covered?
  • Are defense costs inside or outside the stated limits?

Continuing education

Legal orientation and official starting points

Bounded

Legal CE orientation

18 hours · Eighteen hours are earned within the two-year renewal period.

Verified

Compact legal CE orientation only; subjects, documentation, and renewal mechanics remain in the licensing record.

Use official starting points to explore continuing-education resources in Arkansas. Legal renewal and continuing-education requirements remain in the licensing record.

See detailed Arkansas renewal and CE requirements →

Official CE starting points

Not yet reviewed

No separate official CE starting point cleared this review. That does not resolve the legal CE requirement.

Workforce data

Arkansas workforce outlook

Bounded

BLS May 2025 OEWS estimates 430 wage-and-salary massage therapist jobs in Arkansas; this is not a license count or practitioner census.

Employment

Bounded
May 2025 OEWS estimate430

Estimated wage-and-salary jobs

Arkansas

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
BLS OEWS estimate of massage therapist jobs in Arkansas in May 2025.
Method
BLS OEWS state estimate for SOC 31-9011, Massage Therapists, retrieved from the official BLS public data API.
Limitation
OEWS estimates wage-and-salary jobs, excludes self-employed workers, and is not a license count or practitioner census.
Comparability
Compare only with the same occupation, measure, geography level, and May 2025 OEWS vintage.
Observed or accessed
July 29, 2026
Uncertainty
15.6 percent: BLS-published relative standard error for this state occupation estimate or wage series.

Compensation

Bounded
May 2025 OEWS estimate$19.23/hr

Median hourly wage

Arkansas

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
BLS OEWS median hourly wage for massage therapist jobs in Arkansas in May 2025.
Method
BLS OEWS state estimate for SOC 31-9011, Massage Therapists, retrieved from the official BLS public data API.
Limitation
OEWS estimates wage-and-salary jobs, excludes self-employed workers, and is not a license count or practitioner census.
Comparability
Compare only with the same occupation, measure, geography level, and May 2025 OEWS vintage.
Observed or accessed
July 29, 2026
Uncertainty
9.7 percent: BLS-published relative standard error for this state occupation estimate or wage series.
May 2025 OEWS estimate$39,990

Median annual wage

Arkansas

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
BLS OEWS median annual wage for massage therapist jobs in Arkansas in May 2025.
Method
BLS OEWS state estimate for SOC 31-9011, Massage Therapists, retrieved from the official BLS public data API.
Limitation
OEWS estimates wage-and-salary jobs, excludes self-employed workers, and is not a license count or practitioner census.
Comparability
Compare only with the same occupation, measure, geography level, and May 2025 OEWS vintage.
Observed or accessed
July 29, 2026
Uncertainty
9.7 percent: BLS-published relative standard error for this state occupation estimate or wage series.

Growth and openings

Bounded
2024–2034 long-term projection560

Projection base employment

Arkansas

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Reported 2024 base employment in the state long-term projection.
Method
State-submitted long-term occupation projection distributed through the Projections Managing Partnership system sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Limitation
Projection employment coverage differs from OEWS. Published endpoints are rounded, so the reported numeric and percentage changes must not be recomputed from rounded endpoint values.
Comparability
Compare only within the same state's 2024–2034 projection series and measure; do not equate projection employment with OEWS employment.
Observed or accessed
July 29, 2026
2024–2034 long-term projection680

Projected employment

Arkansas

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Reported 2034 employment in the state long-term projection.
Method
State-submitted long-term occupation projection distributed through the Projections Managing Partnership system sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Limitation
Projection employment coverage differs from OEWS. Published endpoints are rounded, so the reported numeric and percentage changes must not be recomputed from rounded endpoint values.
Comparability
Compare only within the same state's 2024–2034 projection series and measure; do not equate projection employment with OEWS employment.
Observed or accessed
July 29, 2026
2024–2034 long-term projection110

Projected numeric change

Arkansas

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
State-reported numeric employment change across the 2024–2034 projection period.
Method
State-submitted long-term occupation projection distributed through the Projections Managing Partnership system sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Limitation
Projection employment coverage differs from OEWS. Published endpoints are rounded, so the reported numeric and percentage changes must not be recomputed from rounded endpoint values.
Comparability
Compare only within the same state's 2024–2034 projection series and measure; do not equate projection employment with OEWS employment.
Observed or accessed
July 29, 2026
2024–2034 long-term projection20.2%

Projected percentage change

Arkansas

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
State-reported percentage employment change across the 2024–2034 projection period.
Method
State-submitted long-term occupation projection distributed through the Projections Managing Partnership system sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Limitation
Projection employment coverage differs from OEWS. Published endpoints are rounded, so the reported numeric and percentage changes must not be recomputed from rounded endpoint values.
Comparability
Compare only within the same state's 2024–2034 projection series and measure; do not equate projection employment with OEWS employment.
Observed or accessed
July 29, 2026
2024–2034 long-term projection90

Projected annual openings

Arkansas

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
State-reported average annual openings, including growth, exits, and occupational transfers.
Method
State-submitted long-term occupation projection distributed through the Projections Managing Partnership system sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Limitation
Projection employment coverage differs from OEWS. Published endpoints are rounded, so the reported numeric and percentage changes must not be recomputed from rounded endpoint values.
Comparability
Compare only within the same state's 2024–2034 projection series and measure; do not equate projection employment with OEWS employment.
Observed or accessed
July 29, 2026

Population universe: OEWS measures wage-and-salary jobs. Projections Central distributes state long-term occupational projections; its base and projected employment universe is not assumed to match OEWS.

BLS OEWS excludes self-employed workers, which is material in massage therapy.

Workforce source set

Arkansas agencies and data

Official resources

Bounded

A selected official starting set, not a complete source ledger.

educationArkansas massage-school approval and oversight authority

Current 17 CAR § 52-118 establishes Department approval, inspection, curriculum, and operating requirements for massage schools. No current official roster remained reachable during final validation; the Department's December 9, 2024 and January 15, 2025 list URLs both returned 404.

Verified July 29, 2026

Sources and updates

Reviewed July 29, 2026

Verified

This guide projects 12 distinct official or first-party source links from the governed records. Earliest scheduled review: August 29, 2026.

Review licensing evidence and official sources →

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

Method and sources →Corrections and updates →