Tulsa
City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing)
In short
City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing) issues 7 permits we publish for Tulsa, last verified 2026-09-09. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veterinary Clinics — Commercial Animal Establishment Type A Under Tulsa Title 2only if it applies to you | City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing) | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-09 |
| Auto Repair Shop Licensing — City of Tulsa Positiononly if it applies to you | City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing) | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-09 |
| Childcare Business Licensing — City of Tulsa Positiononly if it applies to you | City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing) | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-09 |
| General Business License — City of Tulsa Positiononly if it applies to you | City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing) | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-09 |
| Food Service Establishment License (City of Tulsa) | City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing) | No fee | annual | 2026-09-09 |
| Mobile Food Vending License (City of Tulsa) | City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing) | No fee | annual | 2026-09-09 |
| Salon/Barbershop Licensing — State Board License Applies (Tulsa)only if it applies to you | City of Tulsa Finance Department, License Center (Business Licensing) | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-09 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Veterinary Clinics — Commercial Animal Establishment Type A Under Tulsa Title 2
Title 2's definitions section names a veterinary clinic as a 'Commercial Animal Establishment (Type A),' alongside stables, boarding/grooming facilities and guard-dog services — but Section 110, the section that actually creates a permit requirement and prices it (a $100.00 annual permit fee plus a $20.00 first-application processing fee, paid to the Director of Finance), is written by its own express terms to apply only to 'Commercial Animal Establishments (Type B)': businesses keeping animals in stock for retail or wholesale trade (pet stores, wholesale distributors, stockyards, slaughterhouses, hatcheries). Under Title 2's text, Type A establishments, veterinary clinics included, are bound by Section 110's general sanitation and humane-care standards (subsections A and B), and Title 2 sets no fee and no permit application for them. This is on top of, not instead of, the Oklahoma Veterinary Medical Examiners' state premises permit recorded at the state layer.
Auto Repair Shop Licensing — City of Tulsa Position
The City's current Business Licensing page and the 'Doing Business in Tulsa' guide's license-type table list no automotive-repair-specific municipal business license, so no fee applies to this trade specifically at city level, on top of the state licenses recorded at the state layer — though see the separate Repair Garage Fire Prevention Code operational-permit record below, which does apply.
Childcare Business Licensing — City of Tulsa Position
The City of Tulsa's Business Licensing page and its 'Doing Business in Tulsa' guide each list the City's license types, and neither names any childcare, day-care, nursery or day-camp category — a divergence from Oklahoma City, which licenses Nursery and Day Camp facilities locally under Chapter 60. No fee applies beyond the Oklahoma Human Services state childcare license recorded at the state layer. Separately (not a license), the City's own Commercial Building, Zoning Clearance & Certificate of Occupancy Permit Application form enforces a 300-foot linear spacing rule between 'family child care homes' as part of the standard Zoning Clearance review — see the Zoning Clearance record below.
General Business License — City of Tulsa Position
The City's current license-application listing (cityoftulsa.org/licensing) and the 2019 'Guide to Doing Business in Tulsa' both enumerate the same closed list of named licenses — food and alcohol occupational, hotel, taxi/paratransit, pawnbroker, coin-operated device, mobile/outdoor vendor, loading zone, sexually oriented business, short-term rental, alarm permits, recreation center, and animal-related permits. Neither list names a generic retail store or fitness/gym studio, so no fee applies to them under that published list. The 'Doing Business in Tulsa' guide states directly that 'In Oklahoma there is no general license required to start or own a business,' and no City of Tulsa document cited here publishes a general occupation-tax substitute of the kind some cities layer a payroll or head tax over a similar closed list. The 'Recreation Center Establishment and Operator' license, read directly from the City's own two application forms, is not a general land-use or fitness-facility category: its own license types are 'Youth Recreation Facility,' 'Family Recreation Center' and 'Adult Recreation Center,' its Establishment application asks for the owner of any 'coin-operated amusement and music devices' on the premises, and its Operator application requires a Chief of Police background investigation, a Federal Gambling Tax Stamp disclosure and a notarized criminal-history affidavit before a $20.00 permit issues to the named individual operator — the licensing pattern of a coin-operated amusement/game-room establishment, not a definition broad enough to reach an exercise or fitness studio.
Food Service Establishment License (City of Tulsa)
A City license fee genuinely applies and is mandatory — the City's own License Checklist confirms it exists ('License Fee (as stated on Food Application)') and that a 50% late penalty applies after 30 days — but the dollar amount is set by Tulsa Health Department (THD) directly on its own 'blue' food-application form at the time of the mandatory health inspection, not published in any fixed schedule. Every attempt to retrieve tulsa-health.org during this research, its HTML pages and PDFs alike, returned HTTP 403, so the figure could not be sourced to a document actually read and is recorded here as fee: none rather than guessed. THD confirms (on a City of Tulsa page directly retrieved) that this license 'needs to be renewed annually.' Requires a current Oklahoma Sales Tax Permit and an updated Certificate of Use and Occupancy (Zoning Clearance) for new issuance or change of use; separate from and additional to Oklahoma's own statewide Food Establishment License recorded at the state layer.
Mobile Food Vending License (City of Tulsa)
The City's own Mobile Food Vending Business License Application Process document sets out the process — Oklahoma Sales Tax Permit, a City Industrial Pretreatment Group Best Management Practice/Wastewater Disposal approval, then a Tulsa Health Department (THD) health inspection producing a 'blue' application on which 'the THD inspector will provide you with... your license fee' — and the City's own portion of the fee is not published in that document; only the separate Oklahoma State Department of Health mobile-operation fee ($425, per THD's Mobile Food Vending page) is stated as a fixed number in THD's own materials, and that state figure is recorded at the state layer, not here. THD's Mobile Food Vending page states that 'All food service establishments in Tulsa County, including mobile food vending operations, require a license that must be renewed annually,' and its 'City Permits' section directs a City of Tulsa applicant to 'Call 918-596-9456 regarding mobile outdoor sellers application for a mobile food operation' rather than stating a dollar figure. The City of Tulsa Mobile Vendor Guide likewise states that the license 'needs to be renewed annually'.
Salon/Barbershop Licensing — State Board License Applies (Tulsa)
The City's current Business Licensing page and the 'Doing Business in Tulsa' guide's license-type table list no hairdresser-, barber-, beauty-shop- or cosmetology-specific municipal license, so no fee applies at city level. (Title 2's 'Commercial Animal Establishment' Type A definition does include a 'grooming or bathing facility,' but that means animal grooming, not a human hair/nail salon, and is not a match.) A salon here owes only whatever building, sign and zoning requirements its premises trigger, on top of the Oklahoma State Board of Cosmetology's own state shop license.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Tulsa
- Phone
- (918) 596-7640
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Guide to Doing Business in TulsaCity of Tulsa, Mayor's Office of Economic Development · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- How to Obtain a Commercial Animal Establishment License (Class B), with Title 2 §110 excerptCity of Tulsa, Finance Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- License Checklist (Food and Alcohol Occupational Licensing)City of Tulsa, License Center · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Licensing (current business license application listing)City of Tulsa · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Mobile Food Vending Business License Application ProcessCity of Tulsa / Tulsa Health Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Mobile Vendor GuideCity of Tulsa · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Recreation Center Operator's Permit Application — a $20.00 individual-operator permit requiring a Chief of Police background investigation, a Federal Gambling Tax Stamp disclosure and a notarized criminal-history affidavitCity of Tulsa, License Center · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Title 2, Tulsa Revised Ordinances — AnimalsCity of Tulsa · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Tulsa Health Department — Mobile Food Vending; its 'City Permits' section directs a City of Tulsa applicant to call (918) 596-9456 for a mobile outdoor sellers application, with no City dollar figure publishedTulsa Health Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-08
Other offices serving Tulsa
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Oklahoma jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.