Minimum education
650 hours
Statewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.
6 sections published
Colorado State Guide
Massage Therapy in Colorado
Explore Colorado massage licensing requirements, professional organizations, insurance considerations, continuing education, workforce data, and official resources, with links to official sources.
Statewide requirements and local rules are identified separately. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
- Regulator
- Colorado Office of Massage Therapy Licensure
- Verified
- Credential
- Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT)
- Verified
CO · main-state atlas plateColorado
Locator · same geometry as the atlas
Counties may regulate massage facilities under state law, and separate local business or zoning requirements may apply.
Renewal
Licenses renew every two years.
Renewal cadence only; deadlines, fees, and mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Continuing education
No statewide recurring CE requirement
The reviewed finding is bounded; confirm the current detail in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Details worth confirming
2 reviewed licensing details should be confirmed before applying or renewing in Colorado. Each is summarised from the licensing record, which keeps the full caution and its official context.
Bounded
Confirm current fees in the portal
A stable unauthenticated application or renewal fee was not established. Confirm the amount shown by DORA when filing.
Detail worth confirming · Application
Bounded
Reinstatement CE is not routine renewal CE
No routine CE requirement was identified for ordinary renewal. A 24-hour option is one competency route for specified reinstatement cases.
Detail worth confirming · Continuing education
Entry
Verified
Examination — Director-accepted examination
Required examination categories from the canonical licensing record.
Verified
Background check — Applicants complete both Colorado and FBI fingerprint-based criminal history checks.
From the licensing record
Renewal and continuing education
Verified
Required subjects — No routine subject requirement was identified for ordinary renewal.
From the licensing record
Verified
Carryover — Not applicable because no routine renewal CE requirement was identified.
From the licensing record
Verified
Documentation — No routine CE audit framework was identified for ordinary renewal; reinstatement evidence follows current rule.
From the licensing record
Coming from another state
Verified
Endorsement or reciprocity — Endorsement is available for qualifying unrestricted out-of-state credentials in good standing under current equivalency conditions.
From the licensing record
Scope, title and advertising
Verified
Scope of practice — Colorado regulates systematic manipulation of soft tissue and related massage methods under Article 235 and current rules.
From the licensing record
Verified
Protected titles — The state license and LMT title are regulated, subject to statutory exemptions.
From the licensing record
Local rules
Verified
Local requirements — Counties have statutory power to license or regulate massage facilities in specified circumstances; local review remains necessary.
From the licensing record
02 · Organizations
Professional organizations
Bounded
These are selected governed organizations, not a comprehensive state directory.
State chapter of a national professional association
American Massage Therapy Association — Colorado Chapter
The official AMTA page identifies the Colorado chapter as a professional-association connection for the state's massage community.
Massage therapists and massage-therapy students interested in AMTA membership.
Member support
- State chapter connection
- AMTA — Colorado Chapter Accessed October 6, 2026
Verified October 6, 2026
03 · Insurance
Insurance considerations
Verified
Colorado law makes it unlawful to practise massage therapy without professional liability insurance of at least $50,000 per claim and $300,000 aggregate per year covering all acts within the scope of massage therapy (C.R.S. § 12-235-116). Applicants attest that they have obtained and will maintain it (3 CCR 722-1, Rules 1.1(F) and 1.4(A)(4)). This does not resolve employer, establishment, lease, event or contract conditions.
Limits of this finding
A reviewed authority identifies a legal insurance requirement. General information only—not legal, financial, or coverage advice.
Professional risk context
Compare covered modalities, exclusions, defense costs, policy form, prior-acts treatment, occurrence territory, and reporting duties.
General liability addresses premises and other third-party risks that may be distinct from professional services.
- A narrow state-law finding is not a recommendation to practice uninsured.
- Confirm employer, contract, establishment, landlord, event, and local requirements independently.
- 3 CCR 722-1 — Rules for Massage Therapists Accessed October 6, 2026
- Colorado DORA — Applications Accessed October 6, 2026
- C.R.S. § 12-235-116, professional liability insurance required (text as reproduced by Colorado.Public.Law from the 2024 C.R.S.) Accessed October 6, 2026
Questions for an insurer
- Which modalities, populations, and locations are covered?
- Are defense costs inside or outside policy limits?
- What incident-reporting deadlines and exclusions apply?
04 · Continuing education
Legal orientation and official starting points
Bounded
Legal CE orientation
No statewide recurring CE requirement
BoundedThe reviewed finding is bounded; confirm the current detail in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Use official starting points to explore continuing-education resources in Colorado. Legal renewal and continuing-education requirements are on Colorado's CE and renewal page.
See detailed Colorado renewal and CE requirements →Compare Colorado CE and renewal with other states →Official CE starting points
Bounded05 · Workforce
Colorado workforce outlook
Bounded
BLS May 2025 OEWS estimated 3,950 wage-and-salary massage therapist jobs in Colorado, with a median hourly wage of $29.36. These are estimates, not license or practitioner counts.
Employment
Bounded3,950
Estimated wage-and-salary jobs
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS estimate of massage therapist jobs in Colorado in May 2025.
- Method
- BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimate for SOC 31-9011, Massage Therapists, retrieved from the official BLS Public Data API.
- Limitation
- OEWS excludes self-employed workers and estimates wage-and-salary jobs rather than active licenses or all practitioners.
- Comparability
- Comparable only with the same OEWS occupation, measure, geography level, and May 2025 vintage.
- Observed or accessed
- October 5, 2026
- Uncertainty
- 10.1 percent: BLS-reported relative standard error for this estimate.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed October 5, 2026
Compensation
Bounded$29.36/hr
Median hourly wage
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS median hourly wage for massage therapists in Colorado in May 2025.
- Method
- BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimate for SOC 31-9011, Massage Therapists, retrieved from the official BLS Public Data API.
- Limitation
- The estimate covers wage-and-salary employment represented in OEWS, excludes self-employed workers, and is not a guaranteed individual wage.
- Comparability
- Comparable only with the same OEWS occupation, measure, geography level, and May 2025 vintage.
- Observed or accessed
- October 5, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed October 5, 2026
$32.88/hr
Mean hourly wage
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS mean hourly wage for massage therapists in Colorado in May 2025.
- Method
- BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimate for SOC 31-9011, Massage Therapists, retrieved from the official BLS Public Data API.
- Limitation
- The estimate covers wage-and-salary employment represented in OEWS, excludes self-employed workers, and is not a guaranteed individual wage.
- Comparability
- Comparable only with the same OEWS occupation, measure, geography level, and May 2025 vintage.
- Observed or accessed
- October 5, 2026
- Uncertainty
- 4.1 percent: BLS-reported relative standard error for this estimate.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed October 5, 2026
$68,380
Annual mean wage
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS annual mean wage for massage therapists in Colorado in May 2025.
- Method
- BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimate for SOC 31-9011, Massage Therapists, retrieved from the official BLS Public Data API.
- Limitation
- The estimate covers wage-and-salary employment represented in OEWS, excludes self-employed workers, and is not a guaranteed individual wage.
- Comparability
- Comparable only with the same OEWS occupation, measure, geography level, and May 2025 vintage.
- Observed or accessed
- October 5, 2026
- Uncertainty
- 4.1 percent: BLS-reported relative standard error for this estimate.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed October 5, 2026
Population universe
OEWS measures wage-and-salary jobs by occupation through an employer survey.
Self-employment
OEWS excludes self-employed workers, which is material in massage therapy; national self-employment context must not be presented as a state-specific percentage.
Workforce source set
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed October 5, 2026
06 · Resources
Official resources
BoundedEvery route leaves MassageData.
A selected official starting set, not a complete source ledger.
07 · Method
How this guide is made
Every field on this page carries a knowledge state, and every state is written as a word before it is drawn as a colour.
- Verified
- We checked the cited source on the stated date and the requirement exists as published. The date is the claim: it says when we looked, not that the rule is permanent.
- Bounded
- We know part of the answer and can say exactly where our knowledge stops. The boundary is stated in words and the fuller source is linked. A bounded finding is the edge of what we know, never an error.
What this guide does not determine
Local business, zoning, facility, and professional rules may apply in addition to statewide requirements. Confirm current requirements with the responsible authority before acting.
Sources and reviewBounded
This guide projects 10 distinct official or first-party source links from the governed records. Reviewed October 6, 2026.