In California, most anyone can hang out a sign and become a massage therapists without any professional licensing requirements. Most all other states require specific training and licensing requirements. The California Massage Therapy Council offers a Voluntary Certification. Here are the requirements for massage therapy certification in CA. There is no massage licensing requirements.
To become certified in CA, you will need to attend an approved massage school. Here is their list of massage schools.
It used to be that if you wanted to be a massage therapist in CA that you had to pay very high city business license permit fees. The CAMTC Certification allows you to practice without having to get local permits. without the need to obtain multiple local permits and pay multiple permit fees. In CA, massage therapists are referred to as Certified Massage Therapist, CMT, Certified Massage Practitioner, CMP, licensed, and certified to those who are certified by CAMTC.
(This makes it confusing in other states where the term Certification means having passed and exam offered by a Certification Board like the National Certification Board of Massage and Bodywork. It is NOT that. It is not the same. See the difference between licensing, certificates and certification)