How many companies are there in Bristol?

There are 57,395 active companies with a registered office in Bristol, according to Companies House records. 23,560 of them are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months (data to 31 Jan 2026).

These figures last changed on 9 Oct 2026 and were last checked against the data on 9 Oct 2026.

Active companies: 57,395
With recent accounts, not dormant: 23,560
Employees reported in accounts: 84,662
Median net assets: £8,697
Data as of: 31 Jan 2026

Of the 57,395 active companies registered in Bristol, 5,378 are dormant and 23,560 are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months. The figures below describe those 23,560 companies, unless a table says otherwise.

Together, the 15,686 companies that reported at least one employee reported 84,662 employees in their latest accounts. The median among them is 2.

By size of accounts

Companies in Bristol by accounts category
Accounts category	Companies	Share
Micro-entity accounts	10,840	46.0%
Small company accounts	12,518	53.1%
Medium company accounts	31	0.1%
Medium or large company accounts	6	0.0%
Category not known	165	0.7%

The category is the type of accounts a company filed, which follows its size. Micro-entities are the smallest.

By number of employees

Companies in Bristol by average number of employees
Average employees	Companies	Share
None or not reported	7,874	33.4%
1 to 4	12,550	53.3%
5 to 9	1,533	6.5%
10 to 49	1,407	6.0%
50 to 249	183	0.8%
250 or more	13	0.1%

Average employees in the latest accounts. Many small companies have no employees other than their directors, or do not state a number.

By age

Active companies in Bristol by years since incorporation
Years since incorporation	Companies	Share
Under 2 years	15,428	26.9%
2 to 4 years	9,996	17.4%
5 to 9 years	12,290	21.4%
10 to 19 years	12,027	21.0%
20 years or more	7,654	13.3%

All active companies, dormant ones included.

By year of incorporation

Active companies in Bristol by year of incorporation
Incorporated in	Companies
2021	2,915
2022	3,169
2023	3,763
2024	4,397
2025	6,343

Companies incorporated in each year that are still active. Companies that have since closed are not counted, so these are not the numbers formed in each year.

Typical figures

Median figures for companies in Bristol, with the number of companies each median is taken from
Figure	Median	Companies reporting it
Net assets	£8,697	19,302
Employees (companies with one or more)	2	15,686
Cash at bank	£18,253	10,500
Cash at bank per employee	£8,439	8,048
Fixed assets per employee	£4,111	8,591

The median is the middle company: half report more and half report less. Each median covers only the companies that reported that figure, so it describes those companies and not every company in the industry. A median is shown only when at least 30 companies reported the figure.

8,919 of the 17,469 companies with net assets for two consecutive years (51.1%) reported higher net assets than the year before.

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How these figures were produced

Industry: All industries: every company, whatever its SIC code.
Location: The post town of the registered office address is Bristol.
Active companies: Companies whose status at Companies House is active. Dissolved companies are not in the data.
Recent accounts: Accounts made up to a date in the 21 months before 31 Jan 2026, the newest accounts date in the data.
Registered addresses: 4,765 of the 23,560 companies with recent accounts (20.2%) are registered at an address shared by 50 or more companies, such as an accountant's office. Those companies may trade somewhere else.