Toowoomba
What Toowoomba is made of: the communities whose institutions are here, the sectors its 3,352 businesses sit in, the franchises already on the ground, and the services a newcomer could start.
3,352 businesses on file · 103 trades · 43 sectors · registry population 142,163 · built from geonet.brisbane on 2026-11-07
Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for Toowoomba → — the free guidebook for this region: why go, what to see, what is open when it rains.
The local economy
What the business base is made of, what it is specialised in against the national pattern, and what that mix implies. This is the part a development office would read first.
Composition, not health. geonet records what trades exist and where; it does not record formation, closure, employment or revenue, so none of those appear here. What makes this economics rather than a directory is the NAICS coding: it lets the local mix be read against the BLS survival curves and against the 323 industry groups this research has screened.
Every industry group on this page links through to its NAICS page, and to the screened market report where this research has one — that is what the trait-to-NAICS coding buys.
What this city is specialised in
Location quotient is this city's share of a trade divided by the same share across 2 AU metro tables. Above 1.25 is the conventional threshold for a local specialisation.
Thin against the national pattern
Common trades that are under-represented here. For someone deciding what to open, this is the more useful half of the table — though a gap can mean unmet demand or a market that does not work here, and this does not tell you which.
| Industry group | LQ | Businesses | Entry signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4599 Other miscellaneous store retailers — Pet & Pet Supplies Retail | 0.45 | 6 | Caution |
| 7115 Independent artists, writers and performers — Independent Artist & Writer Practice | 0.52 | 8 | Enter |
The base against the entry screen
Businesses by the entry signal of the industry group they sit in, from the /markets screen. A large "structure decides" share means most local trades are ones where being better than the incumbent does not by itself win. A trade is matched to the screened record at whatever level the research wrote it — the same code, a broader one, or a narrower one. Where a group holds several screened sub-markets the count is shown, because no single one of them speaks for the whole group.
How to read the survival figure
Each sector's five-year establishment survival rate, weighted by how many of this city's businesses sit in that sector. It is a property of the MIX, not of these businesses — it says what survival this composition would imply at US private-sector rates, because no Canadian equivalent series exists.
Weighted over 99.8% of the coded base — public administration carries no curve. Source: Business Employment Dynamics — Table 7, Survival of private sector establishments by opening year, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And what it does not measure
A "mixed" trait is one that genuinely spans codes — "computers" covers systems design, repair and supply. The clear share is how much of this reading rests on unambiguous coding. Business density also reflects how completely the directory covers a place, not only how many businesses are in it — so it compares poorly between a city the register knows well and one it does not.
Who lives here, and who the city is for
The census: the only figures on this page that count people rather than businesses, and the three cohort readings they make possible.
No census subdivision is mapped for au-toowoomba in local/census-map.json, so this page carries no census figures. The mapping is kept explicit because Canada has several places called London, Toronto and Kelowna, and attaching the wrong one would put another city's demographics on this page.
The communities the register shows
A community appears in the business register before it appears in prose — a national church, a society, a credit union, a newspaper. Those are counted as institutions, and they are what suggests residents. A restaurant serving a cuisine is counted separately as trade, because every city has those and they say nothing about who lives nearby. The ranking is by institutions.
| Community | Institutions | Worship | Trade | Where it shows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indigenous | 3 | — | — | institutions on Bowen Street (2)
South East Qld Aboriginal Community Care Agency · SEQ Aboriginal Corporation For Legal Services · Goolburri Aboriginal Corp Land Council |
| Chinese | — | — | 7 | trade on Ruthven Street (3)
|
| Thai | — | — | 4 | trade on Shed 2/ 2 Stradbroke Street (2)
|
| Japanese | — | — | 2 | |
| Polish | — | — | 2 | |
| Korean | — | — | 1 | |
| Italian | — | — | 1 | |
| Swedish | — | — | 1 | |
| French | — | — | 1 |
Where the communities are
Streets, not neighbourhood names. The data knows that Greek institutions sit on one street and Greek restaurants on another; it does not know the word "Greektown", so it does not use it.
Indigenous
What the city is made of
Every business on file, grouped by the sector it trades in. This is the economic-development view: where the 3,352 businesses actually are, and the specific trades inside each sector.
| Sector | Businesses | Share | What is in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 606 | 18.1% | heating and cooling (155) · carpet (90) · machinery (79) · home builder (67) · insurance (52) · plumbing (39) · painting (32) · roofing (28) |
| Travel | 344 | 10.3% | motel (169) · hotel (118) · auction (43) · travel agent (5) · bnb (5) · diner (3) · fruit (1) |
| Living | 301 | 9% | cleaning (103) · auction (55) · daycare (42) · place of worship (31) · property (20) · furniture (18) · swimming pools (13) · appliances (9) |
| Business | 223 | 6.7% | accounting (58) · consulting (51) · association (51) · auction (46) · government (7) · cemetary (7) · vending (2) · bank (1) |
| Retail | 196 | 5.8% | flowers (46) · photography (38) · auction (37) · antiques (31) · jeweler (24) · gifts (10) · department store (4) · toys (3) |
| Health | 170 | 5.1% | chiro (87) · home healthcare (20) · pharmacy (19) · optical (13) · cardiologist (11) · medical clinic (11) · garden (4) · health foods (2) |
| Agribusiness | 134 | 4% | garden (49) · livestock (48) · fertilizer (26) · landscaping (10) · dairy (1) |
| Manufacturing | 131 | 3.9% | industrial supplier (83) · fabrication (17) · irrigation (13) · greenhouse (8) · chemical (3) · steel (2) · garden (2) · pallets (1) |
| Education | 119 | 3.6% | school (89) · library (26) · writing (4) |
| Beauty | 105 | 3.1% | dentist (105) |
| Entertainment | 92 | 2.7% | games (52) · music instruments (15) · video producer (15) · dj (4) · nightclub (2) · vineyard (2) · aquarium (1) · amusement (1) |
| Fashion | 75 | 2.2% | clothing (75) |
| Energy | 68 | 2% | natural gas (66) · petroleum (2) |
| Sports | 58 | 1.7% | golf course (56) · martial arts (1) · golf equipment (1) |
| Logistics | 54 | 1.6% | storage (27) · towing (16) · forklifts (6) · packaging (3) · railroad (1) · auction (1) |
| Media | 49 | 1.5% | advertising (30) · signs (19) |
| Finance | 43 | 1.3% | mortgage (34) · bank (7) · auction (1) · bankruptcy (1) |
| Food | 41 | 1.2% | fruit (15) · grocer (8) · baker (7) · ice cream (5) · seafood (4) · auction (1) · insurance (1) |
| Automotive | 27 | 0.8% | tires (17) · autos (8) · insurance (2) |
| electric | 17 | 0.5% |
The franchises already here
Brands from a register of 2,024 franchise systems, matched into this city by name. A high count is a signal in both directions: the territory works, and it may be taken.
10 of these brands are a single common word — Metro, Avenue, Budget — so their counts include businesses that merely share the word. They are marked rather than dropped.
| Brand | Category | Here | Worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salvation Army | retail | 4 | — |
| Flight Centre | travel | 3 | 1,500 |
| Pizza Hut | pizza | 2 | 10,000 |
| Target Australia | retail | 2 | 250 |
| Baskin Robbins | dessert | 1 | 2,800 |
| Budget Rent A Car | car | 1 | 1,900 |
| Cash Converters | retail | 1 | 16 |
| Comfort Inn | familyhotel | 1 | — |
| Granite Transformations | specialty | 1 | 151 |
| Harvey Norman | retail | 1 | 160 |
| Jenny Craig | fitness | 1 | 640 |
| Lions Club | club | 1 | — |
| No Frills | supermarket | 1 | 130 |
| Sunglass Hut | retail | 1 | — |
| U-Haul | car | 1 | 13,700 |
| Wings Over | fastfood | 1 | 18 |
| Limited name only | retail | 17 | — |
| Honda name only | car | 3 | — |
| Toyota name only | car | 2 | — |
| AutoZone name only | auto | 1 | 3,800 |
| Esprit name only | retail | 1 | — |
| Hallmark name only | greetingcards | 1 | 5,600 |
| Kingfisher name only | home | 1 | 680 |
| Michaels name only | retail | 1 | 805 |
| Mitsubishi name only | auto | 1 | — |
| Roots name only | retail | 1 | 145 |
Real estate as a local trade
Four unrelated jobs share the name: selling existing homes, owning and letting them, managing them for someone else, and building new ones. For anyone weighing a move or a licence these are the counts — and the ownership question goes to /property, which answers it building by building.
Real estate is a local job market in its own right, and four unrelated trades get the same name. Counts are businesses filed under each trade in the register, which lists a brokerage once however many agents work there — so this measures firms, not licensees.
Managing for owners
5313Property managers, who run buildings the landlord does not.
Named in the register
- B and J Whitsed Waterproofing — 12 Knockator Cres
- Berkeley Challenge — 35 Neil Street
- Bubbles Toowoomba City House Wash — 103 Mort Street
- Chimney Sweep and Co — 12 Tyack Street
- CID Property Maintenance — 16 McLeish Street
- Cleanequip — 27 Dent Street
- Darling Downs Protective Coatings — 14 Allen Crt
- Darling Downs Tarpaulins — Industrial Avenue
- Garden City Waterproofing Services — 13 Fraser Street
- Gutter Cover and Gardening Services — 308 Mackenzie Street
- Home Shine Services — 21 Bingara Street
- Range Home Services — 63 Leichardt Street
- Toowoomba House Wash — PO Box 2412
- Toowoomba Sandblasting — 23 Molloy Street
Building new homes
2361Residential builders and the general contractors who work for them.
Named in the register
- A and C Bobcat Services — 788 Boundary Street
- ASAP Dingo Digger Hire — 25 Meibusch Street
- AW Strauss — 38 Clark Street
- Aylward Excavations — PO Box 1376
- Bellinger R K — 14 Brunckhorst Drive
- Bob Coster — 53 Hursley Road
- Brunner Plasterers — 119 long Street
- Darryl Flanagans Plumbing Service — 32 Box Street
- Davos Bobcat Hire — 12 Burnell Crt
- Downs Dingo Contractors — 23 Corfield Drive
- Garden City Excavations — PO Box 323
- Glenn and Linda Adamson — 14 Burraway Street
- John MacCronan Backhoe Hire — 37 Panorama Drive
- Skeetas Bobcat Service — 581 South Street
Financing it
5222Mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders.
Named in the register
- Associated Planners Financial Services Limited — Level 1, 173 Hume Street
- Australian United Finance — 2 , 126 Margaret Street
- Choice Home Loans — 298 Ruthven Street
- Confidential Inquiry Agency — PO Box 6490
- FPS Mortgage and Finance — 158 Margaret Street
- Gordon Graham Financial Services Pty — 252 Rowbotham Street
- GTH Financial Planning — 162 Hume Street
- H J Garden and Associates — 188 Hume Street
- Hunter Green — Level 1 140 Margaret Street
- Investor Financial Planning — 146 Mort Street
- Keith Wilkins — Shop 3 Willowglen Shopng Cntr 833 Ruthven Street
- Konrad J Moore — Suite 2 74 Margaret Street
- Peter Marks — 5 Bell Street
- United Lending and Finance Pty — 103 Herries Street
On "how many doors"
How many doors a landlord holds is not in any of this. The register files an apartment building under the building, not its owner, and carries no unit count; there is no open dataset of Canadian landlords by portfolio. Where this research has established ownership it is in the /property record for the city, building by building, which is a different and much slower exercise.
Work on the go, mobile services
The Ultimate 411 half of local: everything where the customer does not have to come to you. Each service opens a page on Ultimate 411 to request a quote or book a time.
A shop needs the customer to walk in. These 320 services do the opposite — the mobile mechanic, the mobile groomer, the bookkeeper, the junk haul — and they are the ones a person can start without a lease. 1 of them already match a trait filed in this city's register.
The 320 Service=1 rows in search.local: work on the go, mobile services, where the provider travels to the customer. "present" counts businesses already filed under that exact trait name; a blank is a coverage gap, not proof of absence, because the two vocabularies were built separately.
home services
construction
services
events
healthcare
pets
beauty
luxury
sporting goods
sports
business
outdoors
spas
travel
Schools and colleges
wander.schools is a post-secondary table — universities and colleges. K-12 public and private schools are not in it, and only 7 of its 1,686 rows carry coordinates, so these are listed and not mapped.
| Institution | Type | Students | Founded |
|---|---|---|---|
| USQ | University | — | — |
In the business register
Where schooling shows up as a business rather than an institution — which is where K-12, tutoring and childcare appear.
Health and care
What a person moving a parent here would ask first. The register files clinics and pharmacies; it has no category for a hospital at all, so hospitals are matched by name and the limit is stated rather than hidden.
Matched on the name "hospital"
- Toowoomba Hospital — Pechey Street
- Toowoomba Clothes Hospital — 491 Ruthven Street
- Newtown Total Health Centre — 255B Herries Street
- Toowoomba Hospital Special Education Unit — West Street
- St Vincents Hospital — Scott Street
geonet carries no 'hospital' trait, so these are matched on the business name. A distance-to-hospital figure needs a source that states hospital locations.
What this record cannot tell you
Named in full, because the gaps are the part most likely to be misread as an answer.
- No census figures on this page: this region is not mapped to a census subdivision in local/census-map.json, so the community counts here are business-register institutions, which is a different measurement and cannot substitute for a population.
- wander.schools is now readable, but it holds universities and colleges only and 1,679 of its 1,686 rows have no coordinates. K-12 public and private schools need a separate source — in Ontario the Ministry of Education school finder, in British Columbia the provincial school list. wander.citytowns, hotels and territories remain denied to the ru user.
- No 'hospital' trait exists in geonet; distance to a hospital needs an external source such as StatCan's Open Database of Healthcare Facilities.
- 100.0% of businesses here carry no coordinates, so a map or address lookup would miss them. Postal codes reach 100%.
Built from
geonet.brisbane— the local business registerwander.regions— city name, population, metrosearch.local— trait vocabulary and the come-to-you servicessearch.cozfranchises— 2,024 franchise brands