Minimum education
650 hours
Statewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.
7 sections published
Massachusetts State Guide
Massage Therapy in Massachusetts
Explore Massachusetts 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
- Massachusetts Board of Registration of Massage Therapy
- Verified
- Credential
- Licensed Massage Therapist
- Verified
MA · main-state atlas plateMassachusetts
Locator · same geometry as the atlas
Local boards may regulate bodywork outside the state massage definition, and general local business or zoning requirements may apply.
Renewal
Licenses renew annually.
Renewal cadence only; deadlines, fees, and mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Continuing education
3 hours
The 3-hour requirement uses the 12 months immediately preceding the annual renewal.
Compact legal CE orientation only; subjects, documentation, and renewal mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Entry
Bounded
Examination — National examination credit
Examination acceptance depends on the reviewed pathway.
Verified
Background check — The application includes criminal-history questions and CORI review; a universal fingerprint requirement was not established in the reviewed sources.
From the licensing record
Renewal and continuing education
Verified
Required subjects — The 3 hours relate to massage-practitioner ethical obligations or laws and issues concerning human trafficking as applied to massage practitioners.
From the licensing record
Verified
Carryover — The hours must be completed during the immediately preceding 12 months; no carryover is authorized.
From the licensing record
Scope, title and advertising
Verified
Scope of practice — Massachusetts law defines massage therapy and regulated massage practice; the statute and 269 CMR control exact inclusions and exclusions.
From the licensing record
Verified
Protected titles — A Board license is required for regulated massage practice and protected representations, subject to statutory exemptions.
From the licensing record
Local rules
Verified
Local requirements — Massachusetts separately licenses many massage facilities, while local boards may regulate bodywork outside the state massage definition and general business matters.
From the licensing record
02 · Education
Massage education in Massachusetts
Bounded
Legal education requirements, official starting points, and selected MassageData program records are distinct.
See the Massachusetts school records and official lists →No individual program record cleared this review. That is not evidence that Massachusetts has no massage programs.
Legal entry requirement
650 hours
VerifiedStatewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.
Review the detailed licensing pathway →Official starting point
Massachusetts Private Occupational Massage School Oversight
Official Massachusetts explanation of private occupational massage-school oversight. School authorization and compliance with the massage Board's curriculum rules are separate checks.
Open official resource ↗Before enrolling
School approval is not the same as massage licensure, accreditation, or a guarantee of outcomes.
03 · 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 — Massachusetts Chapter
The official AMTA page identifies the Massachusetts 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 — Massachusetts Chapter Accessed July 25, 2026
Verified July 25, 2026
04 · Insurance
Insurance considerations
Verified
269 CMR 3.01(2)(g) requires an individual professional liability insurance policy of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and at least $1,000,000 aggregate, and renewal requires proof of coverage consistent with it. This does not resolve employers, establishments, leases, schools, events, contracts, or local requirements.
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.
- Massachusetts General Laws c. 112, § 229 Accessed July 25, 2026
- Massachusetts — Apply for a Massage Therapy License Accessed October 11, 2026
- 269 CMR 3.00 — Procedure for Registration (text, Mass. Register #1560, November 7, 2025) Accessed October 11, 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?
05 · Continuing education
Legal orientation and official starting points
Bounded
Legal CE orientation
3 hours
The 3-hour requirement uses the 12 months immediately preceding the annual renewal.
VerifiedCompact legal CE orientation only; subjects, documentation, and renewal mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Use official starting points to explore continuing-education resources in Massachusetts. Legal renewal and continuing-education requirements are on Massachusetts's CE and renewal page.
See detailed Massachusetts renewal and CE requirements →Compare Massachusetts CE and renewal with other states →Official CE starting points
Bounded06 · Workforce
Massachusetts workforce outlook
Bounded
BLS May 2025 OEWS estimated 2,830 wage-and-salary massage therapist jobs in Massachusetts, with a median hourly wage of $30.48. These are estimates, not license or practitioner counts.
Employment
Bounded2,830
Estimated wage-and-salary jobs
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS estimate of massage therapist jobs in Massachusetts 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
- 18.1 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$30.48/hr
Median hourly wage
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS median hourly wage for massage therapists in Massachusetts 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
$35.15/hr
Mean hourly wage
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS mean hourly wage for massage therapists in Massachusetts 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
- 5.7 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
$73,100
Annual mean wage
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS annual mean wage for massage therapists in Massachusetts 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
- 5.7 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
07 · Resources
Official resources
BoundedEvery route leaves MassageData.
A selected official starting set, not a complete source ledger.
- licensingMassachusetts Board of Registration of Massage TherapyOfficial Massachusetts entry point for massage therapist and facility licensing, applications, renewal, statutes, regulations, and Board notices.
- educationMassachusetts Private Occupational Massage School OversightOfficial Massachusetts explanation of private occupational massage-school oversight. School authorization and compliance with the massage Board's curriculum rules are separate checks.
08 · 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 18 distinct official or first-party source links from the governed records. Reviewed October 11, 2026.