When you picture a new business being born in Australia, where does your mind go? The buzz of Sydney, Melbourne’s startup precincts, or maybe Brisbane’s co-working hubs?
It’s easy to believe the story starts and ends in our cities. But look a little closer, and the map of Australian entrepreneurship tells a far more interesting tale.
Regional founders are shaping industries, creating jobs, and rewriting what it means to start a business. The question is, just how much of Australia’s entrepreneurial engine sits outside the capitals? And what does that say about the future of business here?
We turned to the Lawpath Business Index to find out.
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Metro leads, but regional keeps pace
Australia’s cities might look like the obvious winners. Nearly 70% of new ABNs in August 2025 came from metro areas, proof that scale, talent, and capital still cluster where the lights shine brightest, but the real twist is outside the capitals.
Regional Australia, which accounts for just 28% of the population (ABS, 2024), is responsible for more than 30% of new businesses, clearly signalling that today farm towns to fast-growing fringes, regional founders are starting businesses at rates that rival the cities.
Why metro cities dominate new business creation
So why do the cities still capture the lion’s share of new businesses? What makes them such powerful launchpads compared to regional towns?
A closer look reveals a few clear advantages:
- Dense customer base: Millions of potential customers live and work within a short radius.
- Talent supply: Universities and migration hubs feed a steady pipeline of skilled workers.
- Access to funding: Venture capital, accelerators, and professional services are concentrated in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
- Infrastructure: From co-working spaces to transport links, cities make scaling faster and smoother.
Indeed, the State of Australian Startup Funding 2024 report found that across 414 deals totalling AUD $4.0 billion, most funding activity centered in the major metro hubs
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Regional resilience — one in three new businesses
Step outside the capitals and you’ll find a different kind of entrepreneurship. It’s less about chasing venture capital and more about meeting immediate needs, creating jobs, and sustaining communities. Yet the scale is nothing to shrug off: almost one in three new ABNs in the past year came from regional Australia, according to Lawpath Business Index findings.
Behind that number are powerful shifts. Families who made a sea or tree change during the pandemic are opening consultancies, online stores, and local services. Farmers and mining contractors are launching side ventures that evolve into full-time businesses. And in smaller towns, a new clinic, café, or tourism operator can transform the local economy overnight.
Research from the Regional Australia Institute shows regional communities consistently punch above their weight in job creation and small business ownership. In other words, these are not marginal players — regional founders are essential to the fabric of Australia’s economy.
The real surprise? Some of the fastest growth is happening in postcodes many Australians have never heard of. We’ll look at those hotspots next.
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Postcodes that surprise (growth outside the capitals)
Not all growth stories belong to Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane. Some of the sharpest rises are in places many Australians would struggle to find on a map.
- Take Brookstead, QLD, a rural community that recorded a staggering 700% increase in new ABNs in the past year.
- Or Parndana, SA, on Kangaroo Island, where business registrations jumped 400%.
- In Armstrong Creek, VIC, one of the country’s fastest-growing housing estates, new ABNs rose more than 40% as tradies, retailers, and service providers moved in to meet demand.
- Even steady giants like Craigieburn, VIC tell a different story. With over 43,000 active ABNs, its year-on-year growth may look modest, but the sheer scale shows how outer-metro communities have become business ecosystems in their own right.
These examples prove that small towns can punch well above their weight. Regional entrepreneurship isn’t limited to a single industry or postcode, but it reflects migration patterns, new lifestyle hubs, and local demand. (Think of the way surnames like Singh, Nguyen, and Ali are reshaping Australia’s entrepreneurial identity.)
Metro and regional entrepreneurship: Building Australia’s business culture together
The story isn’t metro versus regional, but how the two work together to shape Australia’s entrepreneurial landscape. Each side brings its own strengths, and both are essential to the national economy.
In the cities, businesses scale fast. Metros offer speed, funding, and access to deep talent pools, whereas the ingredients for ambition and global reach. Regional communities, by contrast, build differently. They adapt quickly, innovate in niches, and rely on the trust that comes from being deeply embedded in local networks.
The result is a balanced ecosystem where cities fuel ambition, while regions supply resilience. Treasury data shows metro hubs still contribute the bulk of GDP, but regional Australia consistently generates higher rates of small business ownership per capita (ABS). And younger founders — as we explored in our piece on youth entrepreneurship trends — are increasingly shaping ventures in both urban and rural areas.
This duality says something important about Australian culture. We are a nation that values both scale and growth, as well as ingenuity and grit. And when the two forces combine, our business map becomes stronger and more diverse.
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Starting your business in metro and regional Australia
Whether you’re launching from a Melbourne high-rise or a rural main street, the first steps to success look the same. Every business needs the right legal structure, ABN or ACN registration, and compliance foundations in place before growth can follow.
The good news? You don’t need to navigate it alone. From ABN and ACN registration to full guides on starting a business in Australia, Lawpath helps founders across the country formalise their ideas with confidence.
With Lawpath, you can set up your business foundations quickly and affordably, no matter where in Australia you’re starting from. Sign up for free.
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