Queensland

There were 482,836 small businesses in Queensland on 30 June 2023, representing 19% of all Australian small businesses (compared to 20% of Australia’s population who are Queenslanders¹).

¹_{Australian Bureau of Statistics,}_{Regional Population, 2021-22}_{, Accessed 15 January 2024.}

Table 1: Small business in Queensland, 30 June 2023

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics, customised data, 2023.

As shown above, 46% of Queensland’s small businesses were in the Greater Capital City region. This aligns with the population distribution, as around half of Queensland’s population resides outside of Greater Brisbane.

Greater Brisbane

In Greater Brisbane, there were 221,618 small businesses on 30 June 2023, representing 46% of all small businesses in Queensland. The areas with the highest number of small businesses were:

Brisbane Inner (21,463 small businesses), 45% of these were in Brisbane City.
Brisbane Inner – North (12,585 small businesses), 27% of these were in Newstead – Bowen Hills.
Mt Gravatt (8,972 small businesses), 28% of these were in Eight Mile Plains.
Brisbane Inner – West (8,215 small businesses), 36% of these were in Paddington – Milton.
Holland Park – Yeronga (8,067 small businesses),22% of these were in Coorparoo.

Regional Queensland

There were 259,631 small businesses in the rest of Queensland on 30 June 2023. These accounted for 54% of Queensland’s small businesses. The areas with the highest number of small businesses were:

Ormeau – Oxenford (15,682 small businesses), 15% of these were in Hope Island and 14% were in Helensvale.
Toowoomba (14,032 small businesses), 38% of these were in Toowoomba, Harlaxton and surrounds.
Townsville (12,142 small businesses), 12% of these were in Townsville City – North Ward and 8% were in Garbutt – West End.
Broadbeach – Burleigh (11,035 small businesses), 25% of these were in Mermaid Beach – Broadbeach and 25% were in Burleigh Heads.
Mackay (10,302 small businesses), 25% of these were in Mackay and surrounds and 11% were in Seaforth – Calen.

Table 2: Businesses in Queensland by size, 30 June 2023

_{^* Includes businesses where information is only available at the state/territory level.}

_{¹ This includes a small number of businesses which have income tax withholding roles for purposes other than withholding amounts from wages and salaries (and as such have zero employment).}

_{² Calculated by ASBFEO based on the ABS definition of small business of 0-19 employees.}

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics, customised data, 2023.

Changes to small businesses numbers for Queensland

Chart 1: Annual change in the number of small businesses in Queensland

	Greater Brisbane	Rest of Queensland	Queensland Total
2019	3	1	2
2020	2	1	2
2021	4	4	4
2022	5	6	5
2023	2	2	2

_{Total includes a small number of businesses where information is only available at the state/territory level.}

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics, customised data, 2023.

The number of small businesses in Queensland increased 2% over the year to 30 June 2023. They increased by 4,345 (2%) in Greater Brisbane. The areas with the largest increase in the number of small businesses were:

Browns Plains (increased by 582 small businesses)
Brisbane Inner (increased by 520 small businesses)
Springfield - Redbank (increased by 429 small businesses).

The areas with the largest percentage increase from the previous year were:

Browns Plains (increased by 11%)
Springfield – Redbank (increased by 8%)
Jimboomba (increased by 7%)
Beenleigh (increased by 7%).

The number of small businesses in the rest of Queensland increased by 5,206 (2%) over the year to 30 June 2023. The areas with the largest increase in the number of small businesses were: