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Oregon State Guide

Massage Therapy in Oregon

Explore Oregon massage licensing requirements, education starting points, professional organizations, insurance considerations, continuing education, workforce data, and official resources, with dated official sources and scheduled review.

Before you act

Details worth confirming

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

  • Continuing educationReview needed
Review Oregon licensing details worth confirming →

Oregon licensing

Licensing overview

Review needed

State license required for compensated massage practice

This record covers Oregon's statewide practitioner license and state massage-facility permit context. It does not determine whether a city, county, employer, insurer, or business regulator imposes separate requirements.

View the full Oregon licensing record →
Regulatory model
State license required for compensated massage practice
Verified

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

Regulator
Oregon State Board of Massage Therapists
Verified

Current state or local authority identified in the licensing record.

Credential
Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT)
Verified

Credential title from the canonical licensing record.

Minimum education
625 hours
Verified

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

Examination
Board-approved national written examination; Oregon jurisprudence examination
Verified

Required examination categories from the canonical licensing record.

Renewal
Licenses renew every two years. Expiration falls in the licensee's birth month in odd-numbered years for odd birth years and even-numbered years for even birth years.
Verified

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

Continuing education
25 hours · The 25-hour continuing-education requirement is measured over the same two-year period as the active-license renewal cycle, subject to the first-renewal exception.
Review needed

Reviewed official sources conflict or include superseded wording; confirm the current detail in the licensing record.

Education

Massage education in Oregon

Bounded

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

Legal entry requirement

625 hours

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

Selected MassageData program records

Bounded
Portland

East West College of the Healing Arts

Reported program length
800 hours
Format
Campus-based
Published tuition
$16,960 · Published total tuition

The school publishes 12-month and 15-month paths with morning, afternoon, and evening/weekend schedules.

Confirm current start dates, admissions requirements, financing, supplies, and total cost directly with the school before enrolling.

Visit official program →
Sources and review

Verified July 10, 2026

Ashland

Ashland Institute of Massage

Reported program length
750 hours
Format
Campus-based
Published tuition
$16,750 · Published 2026–27 tuition

The published 2026–27 intensive day program runs Monday through Wednesday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., over approximately 10 months.

The published cohort, schedule, tuition, and fees are time-specific. Confirm availability and admissions details directly with the school.

Visit official program →
Sources and review

Verified July 10, 2026

Portland and Salem

Oregon School of Massage

Reported program length
640 hours
Format
Flexible campus-based program
Published tuition
Not established in reviewed materials

The current program brochure describes day and evening scheduling, recommends 18–24 months, and notes a possible 15-month path using both campuses.

A current total program price was not established from the reviewed official materials. Request the latest catalog, schedule, and cost disclosures directly from the school.

Visit official program →
Sources and review

Verified July 10, 2026

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

Professional community

Professional organizations

Bounded

These are selected governed organizations, not a comprehensive state directory.

State chapter of a national professional association

American Massage Therapy Association — Oregon Chapter

The Oregon chapter represents massage therapists in the state through practitioner support and public-policy engagement.

Massage therapists and massage-therapy students eligible for AMTA membership.

The chapter submitted 2025 Oregon legislative testimony on behalf of more than 2,000 Oregon members.

Member support

  • State chapter connection
  • National AMTA member resources
  • Legislative and regulatory advocacy
Visit the official organization →
Sources and review

Verified July 10, 2026

Practice and risk

Insurance considerations

Bounded

Legal requirement finding

The reviewed Oregon massage licensing statute and current Board licensing rules do not state a statewide professional-liability-insurance requirement for individual massage therapists. This limited finding does not address contracts, employers, facilities, landlords, events, local rules, or other business obligations.

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

Insurance sources

Professional risk context

Professional liability coverage is designed around claims arising from professional services. Compare covered services, defense costs, exclusions, occurrence versus claims-made terms, consent-to-settle terms, and whether every modality you practice is included.

General liability commonly addresses third-party bodily injury or property-damage risks outside the professional service itself. Confirm whether a professional policy includes this protection or whether separate coverage is needed.

  • Oregon separately regulates individual massage practice and many massage facilities; insurance does not replace either license or permit.
  • Use Oregon's Division of Financial Regulation resources to understand commercial coverage and verify that an insurer or producer is authorized.

Questions for an insurer

  • Which massage and bodywork modalities are covered or excluded?
  • Are defense costs inside or outside the liability limit?
  • Are independent contractors, employees, students, products, premises, mobile work, and prior acts covered?
  • What reporting deadlines and documentation duties apply after an incident?

Continuing education

Legal orientation and official starting points

Review needed

Legal CE orientation

25 hours · The 25-hour continuing-education requirement is measured over the same two-year period as the active-license renewal cycle, subject to the first-renewal exception.

Review needed

Reviewed official sources conflict or include superseded wording; confirm the current detail in the licensing record.

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

See detailed Oregon renewal and CE requirements →

Workforce data

Oregon workforce outlook

Bounded

Oregon's official wage survey estimated 2,320 payroll jobs for massage therapists in 2024, with a $40.72 median hourly wage. A separate state projections dataset estimates 3,697 jobs in 2023 and 4,411 in 2033, a 19.3% increase. These datasets serve different purposes and should not be treated as one continuous count.

Employment

Bounded
Oregon Wage Information 20242,320

Oregon wage-survey employment estimate

Oregon

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Estimated Oregon payroll employment for massage therapists in the 2024 state wage survey.
Method
Reported by the Oregon Employment Department in its official occupational wage publication for SOC 31-9011.
Limitation
The estimate describes payroll employment and does not count all self-employed practitioners or active licensees.
Comparability
Comparable only within the same wage-survey series and vintage; it must not be blended with the state projections base employment.
Observed or accessed
July 10, 2026
2023 projection base year3,697

Oregon projections base employment

Oregon

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Base-year employment used in Oregon's 2023–2033 occupational projection for massage therapists.
Method
Reported as the base-year value in the Oregon Employment Department 2023–2033 occupational projection series.
Limitation
A projection-series base is not interchangeable with the separately produced wage-survey employment estimate.
Comparability
Comparable with the 2033 projected employment and other values in the same Oregon projection series.
Observed or accessed
July 10, 2026

Compensation

Bounded
Oregon Wage Information 2024$40.72/hr

Median hourly wage

Oregon

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Reported median hourly wage for Oregon massage therapist payroll jobs in the 2024 state wage survey.
Method
Reported by the Oregon Employment Department for SOC 31-9011 in the 2024 occupational wage publication.
Limitation
A statewide payroll-job median does not represent every locality, schedule, specialty, or self-employed business.
Comparability
Use only with wage measures from the same survey definition and vintage for direct comparison.
Observed or accessed
July 10, 2026
Oregon Wage Information 2024$37.96/hr

Mean hourly wage

Oregon

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Reported mean hourly wage for Oregon massage therapist payroll jobs in the 2024 state wage survey.
Method
Reported by the Oregon Employment Department for SOC 31-9011 in the 2024 occupational wage publication.
Limitation
The mean can be influenced by the wage distribution and excludes self-employed business income.
Comparability
Use only with wage measures from the same survey definition and vintage for direct comparison.
Observed or accessed
July 10, 2026
Oregon Wage Information 2024$78,959

Mean annual wage

Oregon

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Reported mean annualized wage for Oregon massage therapist payroll jobs in the 2024 state wage survey.
Method
Reported by the Oregon Employment Department using the occupational wage publication's annualization method.
Limitation
Annualization does not establish that every practitioner works a full-time schedule and excludes self-employed business income.
Comparability
Use only with annual wage measures from the same survey definition and vintage for direct comparison.
Observed or accessed
July 10, 2026

Growth and openings

Bounded
Oregon occupational projection 2023–20334,411

Projected employment

Oregon

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Projected Oregon massage therapist employment at the 2033 endpoint of the state's 2023–2033 projection.
Method
Reported endpoint from the Oregon Employment Department 2023–2033 occupational projection series.
Limitation
A modeled projection is not a promise, active-license count, or payroll survey estimate.
Comparability
Comparable with the 2023 base and change measures in the same Oregon projection series.
Observed or accessed
July 10, 2026
Oregon occupational projection 2023–203319.3%

Projected employment change, 2023–2033

Oregon

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Reported percentage change in Oregon massage therapist employment over the 2023–2033 projection interval.
Method
Reported percentage change from the Oregon Employment Department projection file.
Limitation
Projected growth does not describe earnings, openings available to any individual, or realized future employment.
Comparability
Comparable with percentage-change rows produced under the same projection method and interval.
Observed or accessed
July 10, 2026
Total openings over 2023–20335,837

Projected total openings, 2023–2033

Oregon

Definition, limits, and sources
Definition
Reported total Oregon massage therapist openings accumulated over the full 2023–2033 projection period.
Method
Reported cumulative openings measure from the Oregon Employment Department projection file.
Limitation
This is a full-period total, not an annual openings rate and not a unique-person count.
Comparability
Compare only with cumulative openings measures using the same interval and openings definition.
Observed or accessed
July 10, 2026

Population universe: The wage survey and occupational projections are separate official datasets with different reference years and methods. Their employment counts are displayed independently, not averaged or blended.

The federal Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program excludes self-employed workers, owners and partners in unincorporated firms. Massage therapy has substantial self-employment nationally, so payroll employment and wage estimates do not describe the full practitioner economy or individual earnings.

Regional or substate detail

Substate observations cover only the named reviewed regions and series.

RegionBase employmentProjected employmentChange
Portland Tri-County2,038 (2023)2,364 (2033)16.0%
Lane County279 (2023)335 (2033)20.1%
Rogue Valley315 (2023)364 (2033)15.6%

Portland Tri-County definitions and limits

Portland Tri-County base employment

Reported regional base-year value in the Oregon 2023–2033 projection file.

Regional projection coverage and suppression rules limit finer local interpretation.

Comparable with the corresponding projected endpoint and change in the same regional series.

Portland Tri-County projected percent change

Reported regional percentage change in the Oregon projection file.

Projected percentage change is sensitive to the regional base and projection method.

Comparable with regions in the same Oregon projection file and interval.

Portland Tri-County projected employment

Reported regional endpoint in the Oregon 2023–2033 projection file.

A modeled regional projection is not a realized future count.

Comparable with the corresponding base and change in the same regional series.

Lane County definitions and limits

Lane County base employment

Reported regional base-year value in the Oregon 2023–2033 projection file.

Regional projection coverage and suppression rules limit finer local interpretation.

Comparable with the corresponding projected endpoint and change in the same regional series.

Lane County projected percent change

Reported regional percentage change in the Oregon projection file.

Projected percentage change is sensitive to the regional base and projection method.

Comparable with regions in the same Oregon projection file and interval.

Lane County projected employment

Reported regional endpoint in the Oregon 2023–2033 projection file.

A modeled regional projection is not a realized future count.

Comparable with the corresponding base and change in the same regional series.

Rogue Valley definitions and limits

Rogue Valley base employment

Reported regional base-year value in the Oregon 2023–2033 projection file.

Regional projection coverage and suppression rules limit finer local interpretation.

Comparable with the corresponding projected endpoint and change in the same regional series.

Rogue Valley projected percent change

Reported regional percentage change in the Oregon projection file.

Projected percentage change is sensitive to the regional base and projection method.

Comparable with regions in the same Oregon projection file and interval.

Rogue Valley projected employment

Reported regional endpoint in the Oregon 2023–2033 projection file.

A modeled regional projection is not a realized future count.

Comparable with the corresponding base and change in the same regional series.

Workforce source set

Sources and updates

Reviewed July 10, 2026

Review needed

This guide projects 31 distinct official or first-party source links from the governed records. Earliest scheduled review: August 10, 2026.

A scheduled review date has passed for: State Guide, Official resources. Confirm time-sensitive details before acting.

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.