Minimum education
625 hours
Statewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.
7 sections published
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 links to official sources.
Statewide requirements and local rules are identified separately. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
- Regulator
- Oregon State Board of Massage Therapists
- Verified
- Credential
- Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT)
- Verified
OR · main-state atlas plateOregon
Locator · same geometry as the atlas
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.
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.
Renewal cadence only; deadlines, fees, and mechanics are in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
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.
Reviewed official sources conflict or include superseded wording; confirm the current detail in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Details worth confirming
1 reviewed licensing detail should be confirmed before applying or renewing in Oregon. Each is summarised from the licensing record, which keeps the full caution and its official context.
Review needed
Sources differ on the carryover limit
Two official sources differ on the limit: the Board's frequently-asked-questions page states that a maximum of 25 hours may be carried over, while the text of the continuing-education rule sets no numeric figure. Confirm the limit that applies to you with the Board before relying on more than 25 carried hours.
Detail worth confirming · Continuing education
Entry
Verified
Examination — Board-approved national written examination; Oregon jurisprudence examination
Required examination categories from the canonical licensing record.
02 · Education
Massage education in Oregon
Bounded
Legal education requirements, official starting points, and selected MassageData program records are distinct.
See the Oregon school records and official lists →Selected program record
East West College of the Healing Arts
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.
State approval context — East West College appears on Oregon HECC's October 2026 directory of licensed private career schools with massage therapy among its program offerings.
Appearing on a state list is not a finding that this programme satisfies that state’s licensing requirement.
- Reported program length
- 800 hours
- Location
- Portland
- Format
- Campus-based
- Published tuition
- $16,960 · Published total tuition
- East West College — Professional Massage Program Accessed October 11, 2026
- East West College — Tuition and Financing Accessed October 11, 2026
- Oregon HECC — Licensed Private Career Schools as of October 2026 Accessed October 11, 2026
- COMTA — October 2021 Commission Actions Accessed October 11, 2026
Verified October 11, 2026
These are selected records, not a complete school directory.
Selected program record
Ashland Institute of Massage
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.
State approval context — Ashland Institute of Massage appears on Oregon HECC's October 2026 directory of licensed private career schools with massage therapy among its program offerings.
Appearing on a state list is not a finding that this programme satisfies that state’s licensing requirement.
- Reported program length
- 750 hours
- Location
- Ashland
- Format
- Campus-based
- Published tuition
- $16,750 · Published 2026–27 tuition
- Ashland Institute of Massage — Program Accessed October 11, 2026
- Ashland Institute of Massage — Program Outline Accessed October 11, 2026
- Ashland Institute of Massage — Tuition and Fees Accessed October 11, 2026
- Oregon HECC — Licensed Private Career Schools as of October 2026 Accessed October 11, 2026
Verified October 11, 2026
These are selected records, not a complete school directory.
Selected program record
Oregon School of Massage
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.
State approval context — Oregon School of Massage's Portland and Salem locations appear on Oregon HECC's October 2026 directory of licensed private career schools with massage therapy among their program offerings.
Appearing on a state list is not a finding that this programme satisfies that state’s licensing requirement.
- Reported program length
- 640 hours
- Location
- Portland and Salem
- Format
- Flexible campus-based program
- Published tuition
- Not established in reviewed materials
- Oregon School of Massage — Professional Licensing Program Brochure Accessed October 11, 2026
- Oregon HECC — Licensed Private Career Schools as of October 2026 Accessed October 11, 2026
Verified October 11, 2026
These are selected records, not a complete school directory.
Legal entry requirement
625 hours
VerifiedStatewide entry-education orientation; pathway details remain in the licensing record.
Review the detailed licensing pathway →Official starting point
Oregon private career school oversight
HECC licensing information and its directory of all licensed Oregon private career schools.
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 — 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.
AMTA states that chapter participation may include on-site continuing education; no current Oregon event inventory is asserted here.
Member support
- State chapter connection
- National AMTA member resources
- Legislative and regulatory advocacy
- AMTA — Chapters Accessed October 11, 2026
- AMTA Oregon Chapter — 2025 Legislative Testimony Accessed October 11, 2026
- AMTA — Professional Member Benefits Accessed October 11, 2026
Verified October 11, 2026
04 · Insurance
Insurance considerations
Bounded
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.
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
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.
- Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 687 Accessed October 11, 2026
- Oregon Administrative Rules Chapter 334, Division 10 Accessed October 11, 2026
- Oregon DCBS — Small Business Guide to Insurance and Worksite Safety Accessed October 11, 2026
- AMTA — Professional Member Benefits Accessed October 11, 2026
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?
05 · 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 neededReviewed official sources conflict or include superseded wording; confirm the current detail in the state's CE and renewal requirements.
Use official starting points to explore continuing-education resources in Oregon. Legal renewal and continuing-education requirements are on Oregon's CE and renewal page.
See detailed Oregon renewal and CE requirements →Compare Oregon CE and renewal with other states →Official CE starting points
Bounded06 · Workforce
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
Bounded2,320
Oregon wage-survey employment estimate
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
- Oregon Employment Department — Oregon Wage Information, 2024 Accessed July 10, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS Frequently Asked Questions Accessed July 10, 2026
3,697
Oregon projections base employment
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
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
Compensation
Bounded$40.72/hr
Median hourly wage
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 Employment Department — Oregon Wage Information, 2024 Accessed July 10, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS Frequently Asked Questions Accessed July 10, 2026
$37.96/hr
Mean hourly wage
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 Employment Department — Oregon Wage Information, 2024 Accessed July 10, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS Frequently Asked Questions Accessed July 10, 2026
$78,959
Mean annual wage
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
- Oregon Employment Department — Oregon Wage Information, 2024 Accessed July 10, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS Frequently Asked Questions Accessed July 10, 2026
Growth and openings
Bounded4,411
Projected employment
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 Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
19.3%
Projected employment change, 2023–2033
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
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
5,837
Projected total openings, 2023–2033
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
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 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.
Self-employment
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.
| Region | Base employment | Projected employment | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portland Tri-County | 2,038 (2023) | 2,364 (2033) | 16.0% |
| Lane County | 279 (2023) | 335 (2033) | 20.1% |
| Rogue Valley | 315 (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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
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.
- Oregon Employment Department — Occupational Employment Projections, 2023–2033 Accessed July 10, 2026
Workforce source set
- Oregon Employment Department — Oregon Wage Information, 2024 Accessed July 10, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS Frequently Asked Questions Accessed July 10, 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Massage Therapists Occupational Outlook Accessed July 10, 2026
07 · Resources
Official resources
BoundedEvery route leaves MassageData.
A selected official starting set, not a complete source ledger.
- licensingOregon State Board of Massage TherapistsOfficial licensing, renewal, compliance, laws, rules, and Board resources for Oregon massage therapists.
- educationOregon private career school oversightHECC licensing information and its directory of all licensed Oregon private career schools.
- workforceOregon QualityInfoOregon Employment Department labor-market information, wage data, and occupational projections.
- businessOregon Business XpressState agency starting points for Oregon business structure, registration, licensing, and assistance.
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.
- Review needed
- Published sources disagree, or a source carries superseded wording. Both readings are cited with their retrieval dates and neither is shown as fact until the current rule is confirmed. Review needed never means hidden; it means honestly uncertain.
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 reviewReview needed
This guide projects 33 distinct official or first-party source links from the governed records. Reviewed October 11, 2026.