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Research report · data as of September 2026 · updated monthly

Vienna Trade Density Index

How dense is each trade in Vienna, really? This report converts official GISA data into licences per 10,000 residents — for 20 sectors, all 23 districts, with the movement since July 2025. Every number on this page is computed directly from the dataset; nothing is typed in by hand.

Key findings

  • IT services is by far the densest sector in the city: 82.0 licences per 10,000 residents (16,744 in total) — ahead of Business consulting (52.6) and Gastronomy (37.6).
  • The biggest growth since July 2025: IT services, +1,425 to 16,744 licences. Followed by Advertising agency (+650) and Business consulting (+449).
  • 5 sectors shrank, led by Construction (Baumeister) (−59 to 1,395).
  • Density is an inner-city phenomenon: Gastronomy reaches 599.5 per 10,000 residents in its top district, Innere Stadt (1010) — roughly 16× the city average. The big exception: Taxi.

The ranking: 20 sectors by density

Sector Vienna per 10,000 Austria Δ since July 2025
IT services 16,744 82.0 45,058 +1,425
Business consulting 10,750 52.6 33,608 +449
Gastronomy 7,682 37.6 56,507 +41
Advertising agency 7,445 36.5 23,348 +650
Taxi 4,338 21.2 10,877 +8
Life & social counselling 3,657 17.9 14,305 +327
Professional photographer 2,595 12.7 10,929 +91
Hairdresser 2,092 10.2 11,331 +66
Cosmetics 1,978 9.7 10,036 +119
Massage 1,764 8.6 11,793 −26
Electrician 1,672 8.2 11,317 +16
Construction (Baumeister) 1,395 6.8 7,787 −59
Plumbing (gas & sanitary) 1,215 6.0 6,076 +13
Nail studio 1,204 5.9 5,695 +141
Foot care 656 3.2 5,164 −6
Carpenter 547 2.7 8,251 −10
Gardener & florist 323 1.6 2,709 +4
Baker 157 0.8 1,369 +0
Butcher 140 0.7 1,231 +4
Roofer 84 0.4 1,217 −4

Counted are trade licences as recorded in GISA — a licence is not the same as an economically active business.

The inner-city distortion — and why it is real

“Per 10,000 residents” normalises by residential population. The Innere Stadt has few residents — and many company seats, office and walk-by locations. That is why Gastronomy reaches 599.5 per 10,000 residents there, roughly 16× the city average of 37.6. This is not a data glitch: density follows where businesses sit and customers pass by — not where people live. It is exactly why the district rankings on our trade pages filter out districts below 20,000 residents.

The counter-example is Taxi: its top district is Simmering (1110) at 32.6 per 10,000 residents against a city average of 21.2 — the sector spreads almost evenly across the city.

Gastronomy: density by district

Competition density in Vienna Gastronomy per 10,000 residents, all 23 districts
1., Innere Stadt — 599.53 per 10,000 residents 2., Leopoldstadt — 50.74 per 10,000 residents 3., Landstraße — 47.02 per 10,000 residents 4., Wieden — 75.64 per 10,000 residents 5., Margareten — 39.96 per 10,000 residents 6., Mariahilf — 113.29 per 10,000 residents 7., Neubau — 137.61 per 10,000 residents 8., Josefstadt — 96.98 per 10,000 residents 9., Alsergrund — 87.84 per 10,000 residents 10., Favoriten — 23.64 per 10,000 residents 11., Simmering — 17.82 per 10,000 residents 12., Meidling — 26.67 per 10,000 residents 13., Hietzing — 27.26 per 10,000 residents 14., Penzing — 24.33 per 10,000 residents 15., Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus — 43.38 per 10,000 residents 16., Ottakring — 29.43 per 10,000 residents 17., Hernals — 32.48 per 10,000 residents 18., Währing — 26.57 per 10,000 residents 19., Döbling — 32.68 per 10,000 residents 20., Brigittenau — 24.23 per 10,000 residents 21., Floridsdorf — 17.91 per 10,000 residents 22., Donaustadt — 18.06 per 10,000 residents 23., Liesing — 20.18 per 10,000 residents

Methodology

Reuse the data

The table is available as CSV, licensed CC-BY 4.0 — attribution “GewerbeCheck; data: GISA (data.gv.at), Statistik Austria”:

⬇ Download CSV (2026-09, column labels in German) Interactive per-sector analysis ↗

Orientation, not location or legal advice. Legally binding is only the German text of the GewO 1994.