Municipal licensing
Cutting hair for money is licensed by your city, and your city decides whether that is one licence or several. Here is what each one charges, and where a single salon needs more than one.
Running the same salon costs $212 a year in London and $530.58 in Hamilton. That is roughly 3 times more for an identical business, and the gap is almost entirely a licensing decision rather than a cost of doing business.
| Municipality | What the by-law calls it | First year | Each year after |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | Personal Services Business licence | $212 | Not published |
| Brampton | Personal Services Facility licence, Class B | $217 | $217 |
| Mississauga | Personal services business licence | $255.21 | $230.17 |
| Kitchener | Beauty Salon licence | $257 | $149 |
| Burlington | Personal Services licence | $261.12 | $261.12 |
| Oakville | Personal Services Establishment licence | $274 | $274 |
| Barrie | Tattoo Parlour licence | $287.54 | $287.54 |
| Markham | Barber and Hair Salon Owner licence | $300.50 | $300.50 |
| Toronto | Personal Service Settings licence | $450.91 | $296.45 |
| Windsor | Body Modification licence | $511 | $255 |
| Hamilton | Personal Aesthetic Service Facility licence | $530.58 | Not published |
| Richmond Hill | Not named in the fee schedule; a Chapter 826 catch-all may apply | Fees are not published on the licensing page | |
| Pickering | No salon, barber or tattoo licence is issued | Pickering does not licence this trade | |
Every figure is traced to the municipality below, with the by-law it came from and the date it was checked.
Because some municipalities charge once and some charge twice. London issues one Personal Services Business licence at $212.00 and that is the whole cost. Toronto charges a non refundable application fee of $211.73, which is almost London's entire licence, and only then a licence fee of $239.18 on top. Markham splits the trade itself, licensing a barber and hair salon owner and an aesthetics shop owner separately at $300.50 each, so a salon offering both pays twice.
This is the category where the licence count matters more than the licence price. A salon that cuts hair, does nails and offers waxing is one business to its customers and can be two or three licences to its municipality. Before comparing headline fees, work out how many licences your service list actually triggers in your own city.
Personal Service Settings in Toronto, Personal Services Business in London, Beauty Salon in Kitchener, Barber and Hair Salon Owner in Markham with Aesthetics Shop Owner as a separate licence, and in Barrie no personal services heading at all but individual lines for Tattoo Parlour and Body Piercing. Searching your city's site for salon licence will often return nothing.
No. Every municipality here accepts a sole proprietorship registration. None of them require you to incorporate.
Municipal licensing here is about the premises and the practices rather than about your business structure, so the application asks about insurance, inspection and training more than it asks about incorporation. Toronto requires proof of $1,000,000 commercial general liability insurance where the business offers body piercing, ear piercing, electrolysis, tattooing, micropigmentation or microblading, and requires written notice to Toronto Public Health at least fourteen days before opening.
The provincial layer is easy to miss. Barbers must hold a Certificate of Qualification or be registered apprentices to practise in Ontario, which is a provincial trade requirement and entirely separate from the municipal licence. A shop owner who does not practise the trade themselves is not caught by it.
If you want the comparison without the sales pitch, our sole proprietorship versus incorporation guide lays out both sides.
Each entry below shows what the municipality charges, what it calls the licence, what it will not tell you, and where the figures came from.
York Region / Greater Toronto Area
Not named in the fee schedule; a Chapter 826 catch-all may apply. Richmond Hill's licensing schedule names an amusement arcade, a bowling alley and a tobacco retailer, then stops and adds one line reading fee for any other license issued under Chapter 826, at $366.00. Hairdressing, barbering, aesthetics and tattooing appear nowhere. Whether a salon falls inside that catch-all or outside licensing altogether cannot be answered from the schedule, and $366.00 would be the dearest municipal salon licence in this comparison if it does.
| Any other licence issued under Chapter 826Published at $366.00, but the schedule does not say whether a salon is such a licence. | Not published |
What this municipality does not publish
Source: Tariff of Fees By-law 94-23, Schedule E, item 8d; Municipal Code Chapter 826. Effective 2024-01-01. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Peel Region / Greater Toronto Area
Personal Services Facility licence, Class B. Brampton classes the trade three ways and then charges all three the same $217.00, so the class decides your paperwork rather than your price. Class A is tattooing and body piercing, Class B is hair salon, barber shop and aesthetics, Class C is tanning. It is the only municipality here whose own application checklist tells you to hold a provincial hairstylist licence, which most cities leave you to discover separately.
| Personal services facility licence, Class BClass A, tattooing and body piercing, and Class C, tanning, are also $217.00. Licences expire on 31 May. | $217 |
| First year total | $217 |
Proof of registration: Articles of Incorporation and/or Business Registration, with a Master Business Licence required where the business operates under a different name. The checklist also asks for a hairstylist licence issued by the provincial trades college, which is a requirement on the person practising rather than on the business.
What this municipality does not publish
Source: Business Licensing By-law 184-2023. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Greater Toronto Area
Personal services business licence. Mississauga writes the broadest definition here, covering anything where a substance or equipment is applied to the human body for aesthetic or cosmetic treatment, or where there is a risk of exposure to blood. Nail and hair salons, barber shops, hair removal clinics and tattoo or piercing studios all sit inside one licence. It is also the only municipality that routes the application by business structure, with separate forms for a sole proprietorship, a partnership and a corporation.
| Personal services business licence, newRenewal is $230.17. No HST is charged on business licence fees. | $255.21 |
| First year total | $255.21 |
Proof of registration: The clearest wording of any municipality here: articles of incorporation or a corporate profile report, marked in as many words as not required for sole proprietorships, plus a business name registration or franchise agreement. The city even publishes three separate application routes, one each for a sole proprietorship, a partnership and a corporation.
What this municipality does not publish
Source: Business Licensing By-law. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Halton Region
Personal Services Establishment licence. One licence, one heading, and a rate that rises a few per cent every January. The awkward part is finding it: the licensing page names Personal Services Establishment as a category and publishes no price, and the figure sits in a municipal enforcement rates document linked only as Licensing Rates and Fees.
| Personal services establishment licenceWas $264.00, and $255.00 the year before. The schedule shows a 3.79 per cent rise for 2026. | $274 |
| First year total | $274 |
What this municipality does not publish
Source: Business Licensing By-law; municipal enforcement licensing rates schedule. Effective 2026-01-01. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Southwestern Ontario
Body Modification licence. Windsor licenses the needle and not the scissors. It issues a Body Modification licence covering tattooing and piercing, and its business licence list carries no barber, hair salon, aesthetics or nail category at all. It is also the only municipality here where the renewal is exactly half the new fee, $255.00 against $511.00.
| Body modification licence, newRenewal is $255.00, exactly half. | $511 |
| First year total | $511 |
Proof of registration: A Business Ownership Declaration together with two pieces of government issued identification. The page does not name a business name registration or incorporation document as a requirement.
What this municipality does not publish
Source: Business Licensing By-law 395-2004, Schedule B3. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Durham Region / Greater Toronto Area
No salon, barber or tattoo licence is issued. Pickering publishes its whole business licence list on one page, running from adult video through automobile wrecking yards, boarding kennels, breeders, carnivals, horse riding establishments, markets, pet shops and public halls. There is no salon, barber, aesthetics or tattoo licence anywhere in it. A hairdresser opening in Pickering is not looking in the wrong place, there is nothing to find.
| Municipal licenceNone is issued. | Not published |
What this municipality does not publish
The municipality does not cite a by-law number on this page. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Greater Toronto Area
Personal Service Settings licence. Toronto puts the whole trade under one heading. Hairstyling, aesthetics, body piercing, electrolysis, manicures, pedicures and tattooing all sit inside a single Personal Service Settings licence, which is the simplest structure here and also the dearest. The application fee is non refundable and is charged whether or not the licence is granted.
| Application feeNon refundable, due when the application is submitted rather than when it succeeds. | $211.73 |
| Licence feeDue on approval. Renewal is $296.45. | $239.18 |
| First year total | $450.91 |
What this municipality does not publish
Source: Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 545, Licensing. Effective 2025-01-01. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Golden Horseshoe
Personal Aesthetic Service Facility licence. Hamilton defines the trade by risk rather than by service, covering anything where there is a risk of exposure to blood, and then lists hairdressing, barbering, manicure, pedicure, tattooing, micro-pigmentation, body waxing, body-piercing and electrolysis inside that. It carves out lash extensions explicitly, and carves out anything performed by a regulated health professional. It is also the only municipality here that charges to inspect your parking.
| Processing fee$81.42 plus $10.58 HST. | $92 |
| Licence feeNo HST applied to this line. | $231 |
| Health inspection$142.11 plus $18.47 HST. | $160.58 |
| Parking inspection$41.59 plus $5.41 HST. No other municipality here inspects parking to licence a salon. | $47 |
| First year total | $530.58 |
Proof of registration: A valid Business Registration, Corporate Profile or Master Business Licence dated within one year of the application. A sole proprietorship registration satisfies it.
What this municipality does not publish
Source: By-law 07-170, Schedule 13. Effective 2026-01-20. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
York Region / Greater Toronto Area
Barber and Hair Salon Owner licence. Markham is the municipality that splits the salon. A Barber and Hair Salon Owner licence is $300.50 and an Aesthetics Shop Owner licence is a separate $300.50, so a shop that cuts hair and does nails pays $601.00 where a Toronto shop doing the same work pays one fee. Both expire on 31 January regardless of when they were issued.
| Barber and hair salon owner licenceAn aesthetics shop owner licence is a separate $300.50. A salon offering both pays both. | $300.50 |
| First year total | $300.50 |
What this municipality does not publish
Source: By-law 2012-137, Licensing, Permit and Service Fees (consolidated to 1 January 2025). Effective 2025-01-01. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Simcoe County / Central Ontario
Tattoo Parlour licence. Barrie has no personal services heading at all. It lists Tattoo Parlour and Body Piercing as individual businesses and charges each the same $287.54 it charges for almost every general business licence, the identical figure a food truck pays. In Barrie the fee genuinely tells you nothing about the trade.
| Tattoo parlour licence, new or renewalBody piercing is the same $287.54, as is nearly every other general business licence Barrie issues. | $287.54 |
| First year total | $287.54 |
What this municipality does not publish
Source: General Business Licensing By-law 2006-266; 2026 User Fees, Schedule B. Effective 2026-01-01. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Halton Region / Golden Horseshoe
Personal Services licence. Burlington defines personal services broadly in its by-law, covering acupuncture, hair cutting, manicuring, nail treatments and electrolysis among others, and licenses the lot under one heading at $261.12.
| Personal services licence | $261.12 |
| First year total | $261.12 |
What this municipality does not publish
Source: Business Licensing By-law 42-2008; 2026 Service Rates and Fees (By-law 92-2025). Effective 2026-01-01. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Waterloo Region
Beauty Salon licence. Kitchener calls it a Beauty Salon, which is neither the trade's own word nor a searcher's, and prices renewal at well under half the new fee. It is the only municipality here where staying licensed costs dramatically less than becoming licensed.
| Beauty salon licence, new | $257 |
| Beauty salon licence, renewalA late renewal is $197.00. | $149 |
| First year total | $257 |
What this municipality does not publish
The municipality does not cite a by-law number on this page. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Southwestern Ontario
Personal Services Business licence. The cheapest here, and a single licence with no application fee bolted on. London's entire annual personal services licence costs within a dollar of what Toronto charges just to look at an application.
| Personal services business licence | $212 |
| First year total | $212 |
Proof of registration: Business Licensing By-law L.-131-16, s. 6.1(b) asks for articles of incorporation or a corporation profile report no more than fifteen days old only where the applicant is a corporation. A sole proprietor supplies names and addresses.
What this municipality does not publish
Source: Fees and Charges By-law A-62, Schedule 1 (2026); Business Licensing By-law L.-131-16. Effective 2026-01-01. Checked 2026-09-15. View the source
Treat it as a shortlist, not a quote. These schedules are revised every January, and Burlington's 2026 schedule holds its rate flat while moving the line from not taxable to taxable, which is a real increase that does not show up as one.
Follow the source link for your municipality before you budget, and note the date each figure was checked. We publish what the by-law says and what it does not say, and we do not fill a gap with an estimate. If a number here disagrees with your city, the city is right and we want to know about it.
Is one licence enough for a salon that does hair and nails?
Not everywhere. Markham licenses a Barber and Hair Salon Owner and an Aesthetics Shop Owner as two separate licences at $300.50 each, so a salon offering both services pays $601.00 rather than $300.50. Toronto takes the opposite approach and covers hairstyling, aesthetics, body piercing, electrolysis, manicures, pedicures and tattooing under one Personal Service Settings licence. Count the licences your service list triggers before you compare prices.
Do I need to tell public health before I open?
In Toronto, yes, and the notice period is real. You must notify Toronto Public Health in writing at least fourteen days before opening a new personal service setting. That is separate from the licence itself and it is the step most likely to delay an opening date, because it runs on a calendar rather than on how quickly you file.
Do I need a Certificate of Qualification to open a barber shop?
Not to own one. Barbers must hold a provincial Certificate of Qualification or be registered apprentices to practise the trade in Ontario, but Toronto's licensing by-law does not impose that on an owner who does not cut hair themselves. So the trade certificate follows the person doing the work, and the municipal licence follows the premises.
Why is Toronto's fee so much higher than London's?
Because Toronto charges twice and London charges once. Toronto's application fee alone is $211.73 and is non refundable whether or not the licence is granted, which is within a dollar of London's entire annual licence at $212.00. The Toronto licence fee of $239.18 then falls due on approval, making $450.91 in year one before it drops to $296.45 on renewal.
How current are these figures?
Every figure was read from the municipality's own published source and carries the date it was checked, most recently 2026-09-15. Ontario fee schedules reset in January, so treat anything here as a starting point for your own confirmation rather than a final quote, and follow the source link before you budget.
Before you apply
Every municipality on this page wants proof your business is registered, and most want it dated within the last year. It is the step people leave until last and the one that costs them a season.
See your options