City of Melbourne

Businesses by industry

The Professional, Scientific and Technical Services industry had the largest number of total registered businesses in City of Melbourne, comprising 22.1% of all total registered businesses, compared to 12.6% in Victoria.

Registered business by industry shows how many businesses there are the City of Melbourne within each industry sector using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Business Register which itself is derived from the GST register held by the Australian Tax Office (ATO). Businesses are included if they are registered with the ATO, with an ABN used within the previous two financial years. Businesses are split up between employing and non-employing businesses. Non-employing businesses may include sole traders and registered ABNs which are part of larger enterprises.

The distribution of businesses may reflect the industry structure of the area, or may differ significantly. For instance, the largest industry in an area may consist of one very large business, with a large number of employees, while a sector with a lower value added could have a lot of small and micro businesses.

The number of businesses in the City of Melbourne should be viewed in conjunction with Employment by industry (Total) and Value added datasets to see the relative size of industries, and with Employment locations data to see where business employment occurs within the area.

Data source

Australian Bureau of Statistics – Business register – originally sourced from ATO data

Please note that data within the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Counts of Australian Business is subject to perturbation for confidentiality reasons. The ABS randomises LGA business counts for industries or totals between 1 and 3. If no counts are recorded, zero will be shown. If 3 or more, the number will be shown. This perturbation means sub-totals may not add up to high-level totals.
Number of employees:
Comparison year:
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Registered businesses by industry
City of Melbourne - total registered businesses20232022change
IndustryNumber%. % VictoriaNumber%. % Victoria2022 to 2023
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing4201.05.44311.05.4-11
Mining1770.40.11670.40.1+10
Manufacturing7481.73.37231.73.3+25
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services1980.50.31670.40.3+31
Construction3,6338.317.23,6178.317.2+16
Wholesale Trade1,2362.83.31,2722.93.3-36
Retail Trade2,2415.16.62,3075.36.6-66
Accommodation and Food Services2,6446.14.42,7486.34.4-104
Transport, Postal and Warehousing1,3623.110.11,3503.110.1+12
Information Media and Telecommunications6561.51.06661.51.0-10
Financial and Insurance Services6,68315.34.86,54815.04.8+135
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services6,52715.010.76,50714.910.7+20
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services9,62022.112.69,56021.912.6+60
Administrative and Support Services2,0134.64.92,1324.94.9-119
Public Administration and Safety930.20.3820.20.3+11
Education and Training9702.21.69712.21.6-1
Health Care and Social Assistance2,5185.86.92,5105.76.9+8
Arts and Recreation Services6341.51.66671.51.6-33
Other Services1,1432.64.81,2322.84.8-89
Industry not classified670.20.1700.20.1-3
Total Businesses43,583100.0100.043,727100.0100.0-144

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits. Note: Non-employing businesses includes sole proprietors where the proprietor does not receive a wage or salary separate to the business income. .id (informed decisions)

Please refer to specific data notes for more information
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