Massage License Requirements in South Carolina
Verified against South Carolina Board of Massage/Bodywork Therapy · 2026-07-25 · verified by agent
South Carolina's 650-hour training requirement is sourced from S.C. Code of Regulations, Chapter 77 — Massage Therapy Board (education, endorsement, CE provider standards), verified 2026-07-25. Its required exam — FSMTB examination (MBLEx) — comes from the same source.
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South Carolina requires a state-issued massage therapy license from the South Carolina Board of Massage/Bodywork Therapy, part of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR), before anyone may practice massage therapy for compensation. A 2023 regulatory overhaul raised the education requirement to 650 hours — including a notably large 45-hour minimum in professional ethics instruction — and applicants must pass an FSMTB (or other Board-approved) national exam. Licenses renew every two years and require 12 hours of continuing education.
South Carolina Massage License Requirements
| Licensing Authority | South Carolina Board of Massage/Bodywork Therapy (LLR) |
| Titles | Massage Therapist, MT, LMT |
| Training Hours | 650 hours — Board-approved massage therapy education program (school affidavit required; Board may request an official transcript) |
| Exam | FSMTB examination (MBLEx) (Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB)) Alternatives accepted: Other Board-approved national examination (S.C. Code §40-30-110(A)(3), which governs standard initial licensure, does not name specific alternatives); NCBTMB examination taken prior to November 1, 2014 — named explicitly, but only for licensure-by-endorsement applicants under S.C. Code §40-30-117 |
| Renewal Period | 2 years |
Fee Breakdown
| Initial License Fee | $150 |
| Renewal Fee (every 2 years) | $75 |
Related & additional fees
Separate or situational costs — not part of the standard initial application.
| Endorsement application | $200 |
| Reinstatement (from lapsed status) | $210 |
| Duplicate license | $10 |
Recommended MBLEx exam prep
Formal prep pays for itself against a $265 retake. These are the resources we point candidates to for the MBLEx (Massage & Bodywork Licensing Examination).
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12 hours every 2 years, confirmed with no dedicated ethics-hour carve-out.
S.C. Code §40-30-190 caps the Board's continuing-education requirement at 'not to exceed twelve hours per biennium,' and the Board's own FAQ confirms the current requirement is 12 hours, beginning with a licensee's second renewal cycle (licensing period runs July 1 of even years through June 30 of even years). Neither §40-30-190 nor S.C. Code Regs. Chapter 77 (§77-120, governing CE provider approval) carve out a specific ethics-hour requirement within that 12-hour renewal total — the 45-hour ethics component only applies to the initial 650-hour education program, not to ongoing CE.
Licensure by Endorsement
S.C. Code §40-30-117 (the statutory endorsement provision) authorizes the Board to grant a license by endorsement to an applicant holding an active, good-standing massage therapist license from another state, DC, or a US territory, if the Board finds that jurisdiction's licensing standards 'at least substantially equivalent' to South Carolina's; the statute explicitly names an NCBTMB exam taken before November 1, 2014 as acceptable. S.C. Code Regs. 77-106 implements this pathway procedurally, requiring a Board-approved application with a $200 fee (S.C. Code §40-30-80) and SLED/FBI fingerprint-based criminal history checks.
Sources
Data last verified: 2026-07-25 (verified by: agent) | Source: S.C. Code of Regulations, Chapter 77 — Massage Therapy Board (education, endorsement, CE provider standards)