Trades in Austria: figures from GISA
In November 2026 GISA lists 956,831 valid trade licences at a main location.
618,340 of them are free trades (64.6%), 315,305 regulated trades (33%), which need a proof of qualification.
Vienna has the most licences with 200,965.
8,208 licences are reported dormant, 263,543 belong to companies and other legal persons.
Since May 2025 (928,503) the number has risen by 28,328.
Trade licences by state
| State | Licences | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Vienna | 200,965 | 21 % |
| Lower Austria | 195,421 | 20.4 % |
| Upper Austria | 147,276 | 15.4 % |
| Styria | 130,275 | 13.6 % |
| Tyrol | 82,869 | 8.7 % |
| Salzburg | 66,916 | 7 % |
| Carinthia | 61,209 | 6.4 % |
| Vorarlberg | 37,603 | 3.9 % |
| Burgenland | 34,297 | 3.6 % |
The figures per district are on the district pages.
The 20 most frequent trades with their own page
| Trade | Licences |
|---|---|
| Trade (retail and wholesale) | 158,318 |
| Personal care | 76,340 |
| Hospitality | 56,452 |
| IT services | 46,209 |
| Management consulting | 33,906 |
| Energetic practitioners | 30,433 |
| Advertising agency | 23,859 |
| Building caretaking | 17,031 |
| Direct selling | 15,424 |
| Life and social counselling | 14,447 |
| Massage | 11,833 |
| Hairdresser | 11,403 |
| Electrical engineering | 11,344 |
| Professional photographer | 11,062 |
| Taxi | 10,875 |
| Goods transport up to 3.5 t | 10,564 |
| Cosmetics | 10,139 |
| Engineering offices | 8,564 |
| Joiner | 8,239 |
| Master builder | 7,785 |
By kind of trade
| freies Gewerbe | 618,340 |
| reglementiertes Gewerbe | 315,305 |
| konzessioniertes Gewerbe | 21,051 |
| Nebengewerbe | 1,091 |
| Nebentätigkeit | 874 |
| gewerbliche Ausübung eines Patentes | 144 |
| nicht bewilligungspflichtiges gebundenes Gewerbe | 10 |
| bewilligungspflichtiges gebundenes Gewerbe | 6 |
| Handwerk | 6 |
| Teilgewerbe | 4 |
Kind according to the GISA key list. Free and regulated trades explained: Check a trade licence
Development by month
| As of | Licences |
|---|---|
| May 2025 | 928,503 |
| July 2025 | 930,633 |
| August 2025 | 933,462 |
| September 2025 | 935,440 |
| October 2025 | 937,131 |
| November 2025 | 939,662 |
| December 2025 | 940,705 |
| January 2026 | 939,277 |
| February 2026 | 938,506 |
| November 2026 | 956,831 |
Not included: March 2025, April 2025, June 2025. These monthly files of the dataset hold far more rows than all others, and the dataset does not say why. GISA publishes no file for the months in between.
When the licences valid today took effect
| 2026 | 85,767 |
| 2025 | 80,942 |
| 2024 | 66,074 |
| 2023 | 56,798 |
| 2022 | 49,005 |
| 2021 | 45,042 |
| 2020 | 40,262 |
| 2019 | 38,350 |
| 2018 | 34,464 |
| 2017 | 32,474 |
| 2016 | 31,440 |
Ended licences are not in the dataset, so these are not new registrations per year.
Source: GISA (Austrian trade information system), Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, dataset "Gewerbe in Österreich" on data.gv.at, CC BY 4.0, as of November 2026. Counted are valid trade licences at main locations. data.gv.at
Source: Austrian company register (Firmenbuch), Republic of Austria, represented by the BMJ, open data under CC BY 4.0.