Small business in Western Australia at a glance

A graph showing businesses by size in Western Australia. The graph explains that 96.9% of all businesses are classified as small (this includes 62.8% are non-employing businesses), 2.9% of businesses are medium size and 0.2% are large.

 

Key small business numbers graph. The graph illustrates that there are 238,907 small businesses in WA (including non-employing businesses), 154,847 non-employing businesses in WA and a total of 2,519,637 small businesses in Australia.

 

Location of small businesses in WA graph. The graph shows that 76% of small businesses in WA are in the Perth metro area and 24% are in regional Western Australia.

 

WA small businesses by industry graph. The graph shows that 16.9% of businesses are in construction, 12.5% are in professional, scientific and technical services, 11.1% are in rental, hiring and real estate services, 9% are in transport, postal and warehousing, 6.4% are in agriculture, forestry and fishing and 37.4% are combined other industries.

Notes on statistics

 

  • Statistics as of 30 June 2023. 
  • Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics - Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits.
  • In relation to the statistics, the SBDC uses the standard Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) definition of small business, which is any non-employing business or a business employing fewer than 20 people. However, for legal purposes, the definition of a small business is as stated in the Small Business Development Corporation Act 1983.
  • As with any analysis based on data sets it is subject to a degree of error. Individual numbers or percentages should not be used as absolutes.
  • Statistics include only those businesses actively remitting Goods and Services Tax (GST). As such, small businesses not registered for GST are not captured in this data. 
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