Minimum education
1000 hours
Statewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.
5 sections published
New York State Guide
Massage Therapy in New York
Explore New York 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
- New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions, State Board for Massage Therapy
- Verified
- Credential
- Licensed Massage Therapist
- Verified
NY · main-state atlas plateNew York
Locator · same geometry as the atlas
01 · Licensing
State massage therapy license and current registration required
VerifiedOpen the full record →
This record does not resolve corporate-practice, professional-entity, assumed-name, site, land-use, or municipality-specific business requirements.
Renewal
The professional license is valid for life, while authority to practice requires triennial registration.
Renewal cadence only; deadlines, fees, and mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Continuing education
36 hours
The 36-hour requirement aligns with the three-year registration period.
Compact legal CE orientation only; subjects, documentation, and renewal mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Entry
Verified
Examination — New York State Massage Therapy Examination
Required examination categories from the canonical licensing record.
Renewal and continuing education
Verified
Carryover — NYSED states that continuing-education hours do not carry over to a subsequent registration period.
From the licensing record
Coming from another state
Verified
Endorsement or reciprocity — NYSED offers an experience-based endorsement path for qualifying licensees from other jurisdictions, with age, experience, license, education, and examination equivalency review.
From the licensing record
Scope, title and advertising
Verified
Protected titles — Massage therapist, masseuse, and masseur are protected titles under Article 155.
From the licensing record
Local rules
Verified
Local requirements — This record does not resolve entity, site, assumed-name, zoning, or municipality-specific business requirements.
From the licensing record
02 · Insurance
Insurance considerations
Bounded
The reviewed NYSED licensure, Article 155, and Part 78 sources did not identify a general statewide professional-liability insurance minimum for every massage therapist. This does not resolve employers, entities, leases, events, payer contracts, facilities, or local requirements.
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
Compare covered modalities, exclusions, defense costs, policy form, prior-acts treatment, and territorial limits.
General liability addresses premises and other third-party risks distinct from professional treatment claims.
- A missing statewide minimum is not a conclusion that insurance is unnecessary.
- Confirm New York entity and practice-site rules independently.
- NYSED Massage Therapy License Requirements Accessed July 25, 2026
- New York Education Law Article 155 Accessed July 25, 2026
- Commissioner's Regulations Part 78 Accessed July 25, 2026
Questions for an insurer
- Which modalities and locations are covered?
- Are defense costs inside or outside policy limits?
- How are entity and individual insureds named?
03 · Continuing education
Legal orientation and official starting points
Bounded
Legal CE orientation
36 hours
The 36-hour requirement aligns with the three-year registration period.
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 New York. Legal renewal and continuing-education requirements are on New York's CE and renewal page.
See detailed New York renewal and CE requirements →Compare New York CE and renewal with other states →Official CE starting points
Bounded04 · Workforce
New York workforce outlook
Bounded
May 2025 BLS OEWS data presented by the U.S. Department of Labor estimate 4,500 wage-and-salary massage therapist jobs in New York. This is not a license count or practitioner census.
Employment
Bounded4,500
Estimated wage-and-salary jobs
Definition, limits, and sources
- Definition
- BLS OEWS estimate of massage therapist jobs in New York in May 2025.
- Method
- Reported in the U.S. Department of Labor CareerOneStop state table sourced from BLS OEWS May 2025.
- Limitation
- OEWS excludes self-employed workers and estimates jobs rather than active licenses or all practitioners.
- Comparability
- Compare only with the same OEWS occupation, measure, geography level, and vintage.
- Observed or accessed
- July 25, 2026
- BLS May 2025 State OEWS Source Tables Accessed July 25, 2026
- U.S. Department of Labor CareerOneStop Current Employment State Table Accessed July 25, 2026
Population universe
OEWS measures wage-and-salary jobs by occupation.
Self-employment
OEWS excludes self-employed workers, which is material in massage therapy.
Workforce source set
- BLS May 2025 State OEWS Source Tables Accessed July 25, 2026
- U.S. Department of Labor CareerOneStop Current Employment State Table Accessed July 25, 2026
05 · Resources
Official resources
BoundedEvery route leaves MassageData.
A selected official starting set, not a complete source ledger.
06 · 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 15 distinct official or first-party source links from the governed records. Reviewed October 11, 2026.