Just compiled a list to pair the total number of businesses and population by each council in Victoria. Interesting to see the dominance of inner suburbs (5 kms from Melbourne CBD) in terms of where businesses are located (and jobs as well). The only non-metropolitan local council made it to top 10s is City of Greater Geelong.

Rank Local Govt. Area (LGA) No. of businesses State % share Population State % share 1 Melbourne 35,276 6.52% 122,207 2.09% 2 Boroondara 23,655 4.37% 172,612 2.95% 3 Port Phillip 18,309 3.38% 104,846 1.79% 4 Monash 18,263 3.37% 185,037 3.16% 5 Casey 16,850 3.11% 283,415 4.85% 6 Stonnington 16,807 3.10% 105,981 1.81% 7 Greater Geelong 15,731 2.90% 224,926 3.85% 8 Kingston 15,533 2.87% 153,079 2.62% 9 Glen Eira 14,693 2.71% 144,059 2.46% 10 Whitehorse 14,531 2.68% 163,697 2.80% 11 Mornington Peninsula 13,825 2.55% 153,800 2.63% 12 Yarra 13,541 2.50% 86,506 1.48% 13 Hume 13,163 2.43% 188,832 3.23% 14 Yarra Ranges 13,085 2.42% 150,098 2.56% 15 Knox 12,683 2.34% 155,508 2.66% 16 Bayside 12,646 2.33% 99,947 1.71% 17 Manningham 12,643 2.33% 118,521 2.02% 18 Greater Dandenong 12,531 2.31% 149,518 2.55% 19 Brimbank 12,275 2.27% 197,701 3.38% 20 Moreland 11,576 2.14% 163,488 2.79% 21 Whittlesea 11,442 2.11% 187,006 3.20% 22 Darebin 11,330 2.09% 148,728 2.54% 23 Wyndham 11,182 2.06% 199,715 3.41% 24 Moonee Valley 10,089 1.86% 117,337 2.00% 25 Banyule 10,037 1.85% 125,503 2.14% 26 Frankston 9,439 1.74% 135,243 2.31% 27 Maroondah 8,763 1.62% 111,223 1.90% 28 Ballarat 7,636 1.41% 100,283 1.71% 29 Greater Bendigo 7,541 1.39% 106,971 1.83% 30 Cardinia 6,752 1.24% 87,008 1.48% 31 Nillumbik 6,380 1.18% 62,872 1.07% 32 Hobsons Bay 6,233 1.15% 91,148 1.56% 33 Greater Shepparton 6,215 1.14% 63,269 1.08% 34 Melton 6,189 1.14% 127,677 2.18% 35 Maribyrnong 6,092 1.12% 81,859 1.40% 36 Mildura 5,046 0.93% 53,036 0.90% 37 Baw Baw 4,910 0.90% 45,945 0.78% 38 Macedon Ranges 4,411 0.81% 44,715 0.76% 39 Latrobe 4,222 0.78% 73,653 1.26% 40 East Gippsland 4,213 0.77% 43,772 0.74% 41 Campaspe 4,142 0.76% 36,881 0.63% 42 Wellington 3,985 0.73% 42,220 0.72% 43 South Gippsland 3,689 0.68% 27,937 0.47% 44 Surf Coast 3,116 0.57% 28,481 0.48% 45 Moira 3,075 0.56% 28,833 0.49% 46 Wangaratta 3,040 0.56% 27,117 0.46% 47 Mitchell 2,850 0.52% 38,515 0.65% 48 Warrnambool 2,802 0.51% 33,501 0.57% 49 Bass Coast 2,737 0.50% 31,623 0.54% 50 Wodonga 2,683 0.49% 38,131 0.65% 51 Moorabool 2,496 0.46% 30,926 0.52% 52 Swan Hill 2,480 0.45% 20,580 0.35% 53 Corangamite 2,350 0.43% 15,996 0.27% 54 Moyne 2,317 0.42% 16,344 0.27% 55 Colac-Otway 2,221 0.41% 20,501 0.35% 56 Horsham 2,148 0.39% 19,691 0.33% 57 Southern Grampians 2,070 0.38% 15,919 0.27% 58 Glenelg 2,008 0.37% 19,357 0.33% 59 Indigo 1,720 0.31% 15,409 0.26% 60 Murrindindi 1,654 0.30% 13,595 0.23% 61 Golden Plains 1,640 0.30% 20,544 0.35% 62 Mount Alexander 1,580 0.29% 18,102 0.30% 63 Benalla 1,511 0.27% 13,597 0.23% 64 Alpine 1,494 0.27% 12,028 0.20% 65 Hepburn 1,469 0.27% 14,888 0.25% 66 Gannawarra 1,353 0.25% 10,145 0.17% 67 Strathbogie 1,319 0.24% 9,810 0.16% 68 Northern Grampians 1,196 0.22% 11,719 0.20% 69 Ararat 1,055 0.19% 11,184 0.19% 70 Yarriambiack 1,048 0.19% 6,892 0.11% 71 Loddon 1,047 0.19% 7,365 0.12% 72 Buloke 1,006 0.18% 6,086 0.10% 73 Mansfield 980 0.18% 8,217 0.14% 74 Towong 902 0.16% 5,797 0.09% 75 Pyrenees 850 0.15% 6,979 0.11% 76 Central Goldfields 845 0.15% 12,606 0.21% 77 Hindmarsh 830 0.15% 5,644 0.09% 78 West Wimmera 755 0.13% 3,982 0.06% 79 Queenscliffe 388 0.07% 3,027 0.05% Victoria Total 540,589 100.00% 5,840,910 100.00%

Latest small business stats from the Australian Bureau of Statistics

The ABS has just released the relevant data cubes which will enable us to understand number of small businesses by State by industry by location.

For Victoria, the number of small businesses (June 2014) reached 532,244, comprising of 333,128 non-employing micro businesses, 149,640 employing micro businesses (1-4 employees) and 49,476 other employing small businesses (5-19 employees)