Tom Willis is an award-winning marketing leader and Co-founder of Lawpath. Tom’s journey journey includes steering several entrepreneurial projects and addressing the unique challenges faced by small businesses. As the Chief Marketing Officer at Lawpath, Tom has been pivotal in shaping the company’s marketing strategy and business growth.
The best cities to start a business in WA in FY26, ranked by growth in new business registrations, are Mandurah, Rockingham, Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Wanneroo, Swan, Kalamunda, Armadale, Mundaring, Cockburn and Gosnells. Perth’s outer growth corridors, from the Peel region in the south to the northern coastal strip, are doing most of the work this year.
Picking where to base a business feels like a gut call, so most people default to wherever they already live. That leaves money on the table. If you want to start a business in WA with the best odds of finding customers fast, look at where a local economy is adding people, homes and infrastructure fastest, and the Lawpath New Business Index shows exactly where that is happening this year.
- Mandurah led WA, with new registrations up 51.3%. They rose from 2,500 in FY25 to 3,782 in FY26 on the Lawpath New Business Index.
- The growth story is Perth’s outer fringe. Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Wanneroo, Kalamunda, Mundaring, Armadale and Gosnells all made the top ten, alongside Rockingham and Swan.
- WA posted the fastest growth rate of any state. Registrations rose 37.6% in FY26 and have climbed 294% over five years, from about 37,800 in FY21 to close to 149,000.
- Volume and growth are different races. Wanneroo led the top ten on sheer numbers with 18,313 new registrations, while Vincent, Melville and Stirling recorded even more but grew slower.
- Construction leads most of the top ten, but not all of it. It is the top industry in eight of the ten areas, while Armadale and Gosnells are both led by transport and warehousing.
How we ranked the top 10 cities to start a business in WA
Two datasets sit behind this list. The first is the Lawpath New Business Index, which tracks new business registrations by postcode across Australia and rolls them up to local government areas. The second is the Australian Bureau of Statistics Counts of Australian Businesses, released in December 2025, which counts every operating business by industry, staff numbers and turnover.
We took every WA local government area with at least 2,500 new registrations in FY26, then ranked them by year-on-year growth. The floor keeps the list to genuine cities and larger centres, rather than small shires that can post big percentages off a low base.
We then cross-checked each area against the ABS count of active businesses. One caveat worth naming: registrations are recorded against a business owner’s address postcode, while the ABS counts businesses by their main operating location. In fast-growing outer areas that can push annual registrations close to or above the ABS active count, so read the two figures as complementary rather than identical.
The 10 fastest-growing places to start a business in WA (FY26)
| # | City / LGA | Region | New businesses FY26 | YoY growth | 5-yr growth | Active (ABS 2025) | Top industry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mandurah | Peel Region | 3,782 | +51.3% | +382% | 5,199 | Construction |
| 2 | Rockingham | South Metropolitan Perth | 6,319 | +50.4% | +388% | 6,597 | Construction |
| 3 | Serpentine-Jarrahdale | Peel Region | 3,132 | +48.2% | +354% | 2,809* | Construction |
| 4 | Wanneroo | Northern Coastal Corridor | 18,313 | +45.0% | +334% | 16,526* | Construction |
| 5 | Swan | Eastern Corridor | 6,174 | +44.7% | +331% | 14,057 | Construction |
| 6 | Kalamunda | Eastern Corridor | 10,030 | +42.8% | +391% | 4,686* | Construction |
| 7 | Armadale | South East Corridor | 4,483 | +42.6% | +390% | 7,024 | Transport & warehousing |
| 8 | Mundaring | Perth Hills | 4,287 | +42.2% | +306% | 3,047* | Construction |
| 9 | Cockburn | South Metropolitan Perth | 4,283 | +41.8% | +299% | 10,366 | Construction |
| 10 | Gosnells | South East Corridor | 6,134 | +41.2% | +429% | 10,987 | Transport & warehousing |
Wherever you land on this list, getting started is quick. You can register an ABN in about a day, or register a company and have your ACN in minutes.
The 10 fastest-growing places to start a business in WA, in detail
1. Mandurah: WA’s largest regional city keeps climbing
Mandurah grew 51.3% to 3,782 new registrations, the fastest rate in the state. Western Australia’s largest regional city, it is forecast to grow from around 102,000 residents in 2025 to nearly 117,000 by 2046. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is now folding Mandurah and the Peel region into Greater Perth’s official boundary as the two areas grow into one another, and the recently duplicated Mandurah Estuary Bridge has eased a longstanding commuter bottleneck.
The City of Mandurah’s Transform Mandurah strategy, developed with the state’s Peel Development Commission, targets economic diversification across eight priority sectors from tourism to health services. Construction leads the local business count by a wide margin, so trades, allied health and hospitality all have room to grow alongside the population.
2. Rockingham: defence, industry and a booming south
Rockingham grew 50.4% to 6,319 new registrations. It sits at the heart of the Western Trade Coast and hosts HMAS Stirling on Garden Island, Australia’s largest naval base, whose expanding defence footprint is now driving state investment in road upgrades along the Garden Island access corridor. Housing growth in Baldivis and the surrounding suburbs continues to push Rockingham’s population toward 164,000 by 2031.
The 1,150-hectare Rockingham Industry Zone, part of the state’s Western Trade Coast, is drawing energy, defence and advanced manufacturing projects, including a proposed hydrogen and ammonia export hub. For a new business, defence-adjacent trades, logistics and household services around Baldivis are the clearest openings.
3. Serpentine-Jarrahdale: the shire growing faster than almost anywhere in Australia
Serpentine-Jarrahdale grew 48.2% to 3,132 new registrations. Centred on Byford, it has been named one of the fastest-growing local government areas in the country, adding close to 10,000 residents over five years and forecast to more than double its population by 2036. Much of the growth is overspill from neighbouring Armadale and Gosnells as young families chase new-build affordability.
The METRONET Byford Rail Extension opened in October 2025, giving Byford a direct 46-minute run to the Perth CBD and removing nine level crossings along the way. Council is now lobbying the state for a Tonkin Highway extension to keep pace with growth. Construction and trades dominate the local business base, and new registrations here now run ahead of the shire’s ABS active-business count, a sign of just how fast the area is filling in.
4. Wanneroo: the northern coastal corridor’s new town centres
Wanneroo grew 45.0% to 18,313 new registrations, the highest volume in the top ten. Growth is concentrated in the northern coastal corridor of Alkimos, Eglinton, Yanchep and Two Rocks, where the population is expected to more than double over the next 20 years. The METRONET Yanchep rail extension and the new Alkimos train station have already reshaped commuting patterns along the strip.
The City’s Alkimos Central Precinct Plan and the state-led Yanchep Strategic Centre are both working to activate genuine town centres rather than housing estates alone, with nearly 60,000 new residents forecast for Alkimos and Eglinton over 20 years. Retail, health, education and trades all follow rooftops here, and construction remains the single biggest industry by a wide margin.
5. Swan: Midland’s METRONET makeover
Swan grew 44.7% to 6,174 new registrations. The City takes in the booming corridor of Ellenbrook, Brabham, Ballajura and Bennett Springs along the METRONET Morley-Ellenbrook line, which opened in December 2024 and halved travel times to the Perth CBD. Midland, the City’s strategic metropolitan centre just 10km from Perth, anchors more than 13,300 GST-registered businesses across the LGA.
The final piece of the state’s nine-year METRONET rail program, the new Midland Station, opened in February 2026, alongside continuing residential development at Brabham on the old Caversham Airfield site. Transport and warehousing rival construction as the City’s leading industries, reflecting its role as a logistics gateway to Perth’s north east.
6. Kalamunda: an airport-side industrial surge
Kalamunda grew 42.8% to 10,030 new registrations. The City sits beside Perth Airport, and the Forrestfield-High Wycombe corridor has shifted from orchards and rural blocks into one of the east side’s busiest logistics and light industrial precincts since the Forrestfield Airport Link train line opened in 2022.
The City’s High Wycombe South prospectus is chasing $42.2 million in state and federal funding to unlock 3,000 new homes next to the METRONET station, with a further 8,800 dwellings planned across the wider catchment. Registrations here have run well ahead of the area’s ABS active-business count, reflecting how much of Kalamunda’s new activity sits in transport, logistics and construction trades servicing the airport precinct.
7. Armadale: a rail-revived south east gateway
Armadale grew 42.6% to 4,483 new registrations. Its population is projected to climb from around 109,500 in 2025 to nearly 146,000 by 2046, among the fastest rates in the country, with the METRONET Byford Rail Extension delivering a rebuilt, elevated Armadale Station and a new Central Park precinct built into the old rail corridor.
The City’s 2022-2030 Advocacy Strategy has already helped land a new courthouse, police complex and TAFE campus in the city centre, and the 330-hectare Forrestdale Business Park continues to fill with industrial and commercial tenants. Transport and warehousing is Armadale’s largest industry, just ahead of construction, reflecting its role as a freight gateway to Perth’s south east.
8. Mundaring: the Perth Hills catch up on growth
Mundaring grew 42.2% to 4,287 new registrations, a sharp jump for a shire whose resident population usually grows at a much steadier rate of around 2% a year. The Perth Hills shire spans Midvale, Swan View and the forested eastern fringe, and much of its new business activity reflects trades and transport operators servicing the fast-growing Swan and Kalamunda corridors next door.
The Shire’s 2023-2028 Economic Development and Tourism Strategy is targeting the revitalisation of Mundaring’s town centre, including new retail, aged care and mixed-use development on Shire-owned land. Construction and professional services lead the local business base, and registrations here now run ahead of the shire’s ABS active-business count, consistent with its role as a base for tradespeople working across the wider eastern corridor.
9. Cockburn: WA’s blue economy and defence hub
Cockburn grew 41.8% to 4,283 new registrations. Its coastline is home to the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, one of only two naval shipbuilding locations in the country and the centre of a $15 billion cluster of marine and defence infrastructure, alongside a growing population along the Cockburn Sound coast.
The City has struck a formal partnership with the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute to grow ocean-related industries, education and research, and the state’s planning framework for the Australian Marine Complex is opening up more flexible land uses for marine, defence and resources businesses. Construction leads the business count, followed closely by professional services and manufacturing tied to the defence and marine sectors.
10. Gosnells: the logistics engine of the south east
Gosnells grew 41.2% to 6,134 new registrations, the fastest five-year growth in the top ten at 429%. The City’s population has passed 141,000 and keeps climbing steadily, and its Maddington and Kenwick industrial areas, established in the 1970s, remain some of Perth’s busiest logistics precincts along the Albany and Tonkin Highways.
Transport and warehousing is comfortably Gosnells’ largest industry, well ahead of construction, and the City continues to attract freight, distribution and trade businesses drawn to its position between the Perth CBD and the fast-growing Armadale and Serpentine-Jarrahdale corridors. For new operators, logistics, trade supply and household services all have runway here.
Notable mentions: big volume, steadier growth
Growth rate rewards the fast movers, but volume matters too. These three areas record the most new businesses in WA by a wide margin. They grew more slowly than the top ten, yet each remains one of the largest and most established markets in the state to launch into.
Vincent
Vincent recorded 9,040 new registrations, the most of any inner-Perth council, but grew a more modest 28.2%. Just 3km from the CBD, its town centres of Leederville, Mount Hawthorn and Beaufort Street thrive on cafes, professional services and boutique retail, backed by council grants for shopfront upgrades and streetscape improvements. Established density, not growth rate, is the draw.
Melville
Melville logged 7,444 new registrations, up 36.9%. The City is anchored by the Murdoch Health and Knowledge Precinct, set to become one of the largest employment centres outside the Perth CBD, built around Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch University and the new Murdoch Square medical and aged care hub that opened in 2024. Health, education and professional services lead the local business base.
Stirling
Stirling had 7,225 new registrations, up 29.4%. It is Western Australia’s largest local government by population, running from Scarborough Beach to the Osborne Park industrial estate, one of the state’s biggest business precincts outside the CBD, and the $800 million Karrinyup Shops redevelopment. A deep, established economy rather than a frontier one.
Why WA is a strong state for new businesses
Western Australia posted the fastest growth rate of any state in FY26. Registrations rose 37.6%, ahead of Queensland’s 35.7% and every other state or territory, even though WA’s total of close to 149,000 new businesses ranks fourth by volume behind bigger states. Over five years, WA registrations have nearly quadrupled, up 294% since FY21.
Two forces sit behind that. The first is people. Western Australia’s population is forecast to reach 3.57 million by 2036, and the state government’s own population projections point to migration, not births, as the main driver of that growth. More residents means more customers and more demand for local trades, health and retail services.
The second is Perth’s outer edge. The city’s northern, eastern and southern growth corridors, Wanneroo’s coastal strip, the Kalamunda-Swan airport corridor and the Rockingham-Baldivis south, are where new METRONET rail extensions and town centres have landed hardest. The state-backed Yanchep Strategic Centre and the Byford, Yanchep and Ellenbrook rail line extensions all sit inside or beside these corridors.
What the index shows about where new businesses are going
Because the index tracks registrations as they happen, it surfaces a pattern worth knowing before you pick a spot. Growth is spreading to Perth’s fringes, not concentrating in the inner city. Vincent, in the heart of Perth’s inner north, still records strong volume but grew just 28.2%, while outer shires like Serpentine-Jarrahdale and Wanneroo grew at closer to 45% to 48%.
The fast movers share a profile: available land, new housing, and a METRONET station either open or under construction. That is why construction tops the business count in eight of the top ten areas, and why transport and warehousing leads in the other two, Armadale and Gosnells, both major freight corridors. If you want an early read on the next wave of local demand before you start a business in WA, watch where the state government is funding rail extensions and land release.
How to actually start your business once you have picked a place
Choosing the location is the strategic bit. Setting up is the admin bit, and it is quicker than most people expect.
Start with your structure. Most people begin as a sole trader for its simplicity, then move to a company once income or risk grows. Our guide on sole trader versus company walks through the trade-offs. The short version: a company caps your personal liability but adds reporting.
From there the steps are straightforward. Get an ABN, then register a business name if you are trading under anything other than your own name. If you are setting up a company, you can register a company online and receive your ACN in minutes, with the ASIC registration fee sitting at $636 for FY26. You will also need to register for GST once your turnover reaches $75,000. It does not usually matter which state you register a company in, because a company operates nationally, a point we cover in choosing where to register.
If you would rather have a person check your setup, you can hire a lawyer for a quick consult before you commit.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best city to start a business in WA in FY26?
On growth in new registrations, Mandurah led WA at 51.3% year on year, followed by Rockingham at 50.4%. The best city for you depends on your industry and customers, but Perth’s outer growth corridors, from the Peel region to the northern coast, dominate the top ten.
Why is Perth’s outer fringe growing so fast?
Cheaper land, new housing estates and fresh METRONET rail extensions are pulling people and businesses to Perth’s edges. Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Wanneroo, Kalamunda, Mundaring and Armadale all rank in the top ten, backed by the Byford, Yanchep and Ellenbrook line extensions.
Which WA area has the most new businesses?
By sheer volume, Wanneroo leads the top ten with 18,313 new registrations in FY26. Outside the ranked list, Vincent, Melville and Stirling all record higher totals but grew more slowly.
How much does it cost to register a company in WA?
The ASIC fee to register a proprietary company is $636 from 1 July 2026, up from $611 the year before. Service providers add their own fee on top. Registering a business name is cheaper, at $47 for one year or $108 for three years through ASIC.
Do I need to register my company in the state where I operate?
No. A company registered with ASIC operates Australia-wide, so the state you register in does not restrict where you trade. What matters more is where your customers, premises and staff are located.
What industries are growing fastest in these areas?
Construction leads the business count in eight of the ten areas, reflecting heavy housing and infrastructure investment. Armadale and Gosnells are led by transport and warehousing instead. Health, defence and logistics are also expanding across the south and east.
Is it better to start a business in regional WA or Perth?
Both work for different reasons. Mandurah and the Peel region offer more affordable premises and the fastest growth on the index. Perth’s established markets like Stirling and Melville offer far larger customer bases. Most of the top ten sit on Perth’s fringe rather than in the CBD.
Are most new businesses in WA small?
Yes. Across the top ten areas, 60% to 72% of businesses have no employees, and only a small share turn over more than $2 million a year. If you plan to start a business in WA, starting small is the norm, not the exception.
Where to from here
You do not need to pick the perfect city to succeed, and no ranking replaces knowing your own customers. What the FY26 data gives you is a head start: a clear view of where people, homes and money are moving in WA, so you can plant your business in front of the demand instead of chasing it.
When you are ready to make it official, register your company with Lawpath and get your ACN in minutes.
