What permits do you need to open a salon or barber in Sacramento County?

Salon / Cosmetology Licensing — State Board License Applies (Sacramento County)

No fee applies to a sector-specific license. Per the Sacramento County Code, Title 4 (Business Regulation), the County's codified business-licensing ordinance, places barber and beauty salons under the General Business License and lists no cosmetology-specific county license for an ordinary hair, nail, or skin salon: the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology licenses individual practitioners and establishments statewide. Two County licenses can still reach a salon depending on the services it offers: the Special Business License (#2) if the salon offers massage services in the unincorporated area, and the Body Art Facility Permit (countywide) if it offers tattooing, permanent makeup, or piercing. Beyond those two conditional triggers, a salon's county-level obligations are the same general layer every industry faces — the General Business License if in the unincorporated area, Building/Zoning compliance in the unincorporated area, and the applicable Metro Fire or local fire department's Commercial Business Inspection fee for its premises.

Fire Code Operational Permit — Commercial Business Inspection

Within Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District's territory — Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, and most of the unincorporated area only, not the City of Sacramento, Folsom, Elk Grove, Galt, Wilton, Isleton or the Delta fire districts — a general commercial occupancy is charged an annual Commercial Business Inspection operational permit ranging from $479 to $4,154 depending on the building's square footage. No salon-specific fire line item exists; an ordinary hair or nail salon is billed under this same square-footage tier, as is a general retail store, restaurant, coffee shop, or veterinary clinic without a more specific fire-permit category of its own (auto-repair, places of assembly, and commercial day care each have their own dedicated fire-permit records listed separately for Sacramento County). The figures above are in the 'NEW FEE JULY 1, 2025' column of Metro Fire's Ordinance 2023-02 fee schedule (updated 7/1/25), as published on Metro Fire's website.

Body Art Facility Permit

This permit reaches a salon only if it performs tattooing, permanent makeup, or body piercing — an ordinary hair and nail salon offering none of those services needs no Body Art Facility Permit, and no county cosmetology permit exists for it either (see the salon 'no sector-specific license' record). The Facility Permit itself costs $389 a year plus a $151 reinspection fee if a follow-up visit is needed, and it is a countywide EMD program reaching every incorporated city as well as the unincorporated area, the same scope pattern as the retail-food and medical-waste programs. On top of the facility fee, each individual practitioner needs a $192 Practitioner Registration, the facility owner needs a separate $98 Facility Owner Registration, a mobile body-art operation is licensed at $115, and a business doing nothing more than mechanical (not needle) ear piercing needs only a $48 notification rather than the full facility permit. All figures reflect the Environmental Health Division fee schedule effective July 1, 2025.

Cosmetology or Barbering Establishment License

$50 covers the application and the initial license together — it is one combined fee, not two — and renewal is $40 every two years, with a $20 delinquency fee. The establishment license is separate from every practitioner license held by the people working there. Three rules catch owners out: only the owner may apply, only one license is issued per address, and the license is valid only for the location and the owners named on it. Moving premises, selling the business, or adding or removing a partner all require a fresh application rather than an amendment. A mobile unit is licensed separately at $50 plus a $100 initial inspection and license fee. A license left unrenewed for five years is cancelled outright.

Shared with other businesses in Sacramento County

• Special Business License — Sacramento County Department of Finance, Tax Collection & Business Licensing Division, New $237.87 a year; renewal $231.11 a year, both including the $4.00 state surcharge under Government Code §4467 (Department of Finance fees effective July 1, 2026, as published in its Business Licensing FAQs)., 1 year. Also required for food trucks, contractors and trades and auto repair shops; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.