Minimum education
500 hours
Statewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.
6 sections published
Montana State Guide
Massage Therapy in Montana
Explore Montana massage licensing requirements, 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
- Montana Board of Massage Therapy, Department of Labor and Industry
- Verified
- Credential
- Licensed Massage Therapist
- Verified
MT · main-state atlas plateMontana
Locator · same geometry as the atlas
State licensure does not replace generally applicable local business, land-use, health, or safety requirements.
Renewal
Massage licenses renew annually during the Board's July 3 through September 1 renewal window.
Renewal cadence only; deadlines, fees, and mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Continuing education
12 hours
The CE reporting period is two years while the license renewal cycle is annual.
Compact legal CE orientation only; subjects, documentation, and renewal mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Entry
Bounded
Examination — MBLEx or named legacy national examination
Examination acceptance depends on the reviewed pathway.
Verified
Background check — Applicants must establish good moral character and disclose professional history; the reviewed current massage checklist does not identify routine fingerprinting or a separate criminal-history report for every applicant.
From the licensing record
Renewal and continuing education
Verified
Required subjects — Qualifying education must relate substantially to massage practice; current rule guidance recognizes varied in-person, online, teaching, publication, and professional activities subject to documentation.
From the licensing record
Verified
Carryover — Education used for one reporting period may not be reused for the next; no general excess-credit carryover was identified.
From the licensing record
Verified
Documentation — Licensees retain completion documentation and provide it if requested in an audit.
From the licensing record
Scope, title and advertising
Verified
Scope of practice — Montana defines massage therapy as structured touch, pressure, positioning, movement, topical and thermal applications to soft tissues for health and well-being within the statutory limits.
From the licensing record
Verified
Protected titles — Massage therapist, licensed massage therapist, L.M.T., masseur, and masseuse are protected equivalent titles.
From the licensing record
Local rules
Verified
Local requirements — Verify generally applicable local business, zoning, public-health, and safety requirements at the practice address.
From the licensing record
02 · Education
Massage education in Montana
Bounded
Legal education requirements, official starting points, and selected MassageData program records are distinct.
See the Montana school records and official lists →No individual program record cleared this review. That is not evidence that Montana has no massage programs.
Legal entry requirement
500 hours
VerifiedStatewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.
Review the detailed licensing pathway →Official starting point
Montana massage education qualification checklist
The current Board checklist states the 500-hour program and curriculum qualification standard. The Board does not publish a dated active-program directory on the reviewed massage pages, so the resource is not represented as a school list.
Open official resource ↗Before enrolling
School approval is not the same as massage licensure, accreditation, or a guarantee of outcomes.
03 · Insurance
Insurance considerations
Bounded
No statewide practitioner professional-liability insurance mandate was identified in Montana Code Annotated title 37, chapter 33, the current Board checklist, or the licensing page.
Limits of this finding
The reviewed sources do not support a universal legal conclusion. General information only—not legal, financial, or coverage advice.
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.
- Montana Code Annotated Title 37, Chapter 33 — Massage Therapy Accessed July 28, 2026
- Montana Massage Therapist Licensing Requirements and Application Checklist, rev. 10/30/2025 Accessed July 29, 2026
- Montana Board — Licensed Massage Therapist Accessed July 29, 2026
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?
04 · Continuing education
Legal orientation and official starting points
Bounded
Legal CE orientation
12 hours
The CE reporting period is two years while the license renewal cycle is annual.
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 Montana. Legal renewal and continuing-education requirements are on Montana's CE and renewal page.
See detailed Montana renewal and CE requirements →Compare Montana CE and renewal with other states →Official CE starting points
Bounded05 · Workforce
Montana workforce outlook
Bounded
BLS May 2025 OEWS estimates 200 wage-and-salary massage therapist jobs in Montana; this is not a license count or practitioner census.
Employment
Bounded200
Estimated wage-and-salary jobs
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS estimate of massage therapist jobs in Montana 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
- 16.6 percent: BLS-published relative standard error for this state occupation estimate or wage series.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed July 29, 2026
- BLS OEWS May 2025 Methodology Accessed July 29, 2026
Compensation
Bounded$25.74/hr
Median hourly wage
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS median hourly wage for massage therapist jobs in Montana 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
- 9.6 percent: BLS-published relative standard error for this state occupation estimate or wage series.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed July 29, 2026
- BLS OEWS May 2025 Methodology Accessed July 29, 2026
$53,540
Median annual wage
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS median annual wage for massage therapist jobs in Montana 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
- 9.6 percent: BLS-published relative standard error for this state occupation estimate or wage series.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed July 29, 2026
- BLS OEWS May 2025 Methodology Accessed July 29, 2026
Growth and openings
Bounded720
Projection base employment
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
- Projections Central — 2024–2034 Long-Term Occupational Projections Accessed July 29, 2026
800
Projected employment
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
- Projections Central — 2024–2034 Long-Term Occupational Projections Accessed July 29, 2026
70
Projected numeric change
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
- Projections Central — 2024–2034 Long-Term Occupational Projections Accessed July 29, 2026
10.0%
Projected percentage change
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
- Projections Central — 2024–2034 Long-Term Occupational Projections Accessed July 29, 2026
100
Projected annual openings
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
- Projections Central — 2024–2034 Long-Term Occupational Projections 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.
Self-employment
BLS OEWS excludes self-employed workers, which is material in massage therapy.
Workforce source set
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Public Data API — May 2025 OEWS State Series Accessed July 29, 2026
- BLS OEWS May 2025 Methodology Accessed July 29, 2026
- Projections Central — 2024–2034 Long-Term Occupational Projections Accessed July 29, 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 12 distinct official or first-party source links from the governed records. Reviewed July 29, 2026.