City of Sydney

Businesses by industry

The Professional, Scientific and Technical Services industry had the largest number of total registered businesses in City of Sydney, comprising 22.4% of all total registered businesses, compared to 14.0% in New South Wales.

Registered business by industry shows how many businesses there are the City of Sydney 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 Sydney 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 Sydney - total registered businesses20232022change
IndustryNumber%. % New South WalesNumber%. % New South Wales2022 to 2023
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing4220.56.24290.66.2-7
Mining3370.40.23440.40.2-7
Manufacturing1,3711.73.31,3871.83.3-16
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services3490.40.33030.40.3+46
Construction5,3136.717.25,2066.717.2+107
Wholesale Trade2,5243.23.42,5193.23.4+5
Retail Trade3,8954.95.93,9075.05.9-12
Accommodation and Food Services4,0855.24.34,0285.24.3+57
Transport, Postal and Warehousing1,7342.27.71,7122.27.7+22
Information Media and Telecommunications1,8452.31.11,8332.41.1+12
Financial and Insurance Services13,33616.85.412,66216.35.4+674
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services13,79217.411.313,40317.311.3+389
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services17,72222.414.017,61922.714.0+103
Administrative and Support Services3,7434.74.63,7184.84.6+25
Public Administration and Safety1270.20.31380.20.3-11
Education and Training1,4811.91.71,4691.91.7+12
Health Care and Social Assistance3,6494.67.13,4694.57.1+180
Arts and Recreation Services1,2871.61.51,2941.71.5-7
Other Services2,0332.64.62,0752.74.6-42
Industry not classified1180.10.11110.10.1+7
Total Businesses79,163100.0100.077,626100.0100.0+1,537

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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City of Sydney

economic profile