Australian Small Business Statistics (2025–26)

The headline counts

At 30 June 2025 there were 2,729,648 actively trading businesses in Australia. Of these, 994,178 were employing businesses — meaning roughly two in three Australian businesses (63.6%, derived) have no employees at all. The total business count grew 2.5% (+66,650 businesses) over 2024–25.

Entries and exits: the churn beneath the growth

In 2024–25, 437,150 businesses entered the economy (a 16.4% entry rate) and 370,500 exited (a 13.9% exit rate). That means more than one in eight Australian businesses ceased trading within the year — churn is a structural feature of the SME economy, not a crisis signal.

Movement by employment size (2024–25)

Non-employing businesses: +4.9% · 1–4 employees: −0.7% · 5–19 employees: 0.0% · 20–199 employees: −0.5% · 200+ employees: +2.6%. The growth is concentrated at the very small and very large ends — the employing SME middle (1–199 staff), where most award, payroll and compliance obligations live, was flat to slightly negative.

What this means if you run one of the 994,178

Employing businesses are a shrinking share of a growing pie — and they carry nearly all of the compliance load: payroll, payday super, award rates, STP, workers compensation and payroll tax. If that's you, the back-office burden is exactly why the connected back office model exists.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits (reference date 30 June 2025). Percentages marked "derived" are calculated from the published figures. Current as at 24 July 2026; re-verified when the ABS publishes its next annual release.