How many companies are there in Manchester?

There are 107,486 active companies with a registered office in Manchester, according to Companies House records. 34,156 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: 107,486
With recent accounts, not dormant: 34,156
Employees reported in accounts: 112,475
Median net assets: £5,975
Data as of: 31 Jan 2026

Of the 107,486 active companies registered in Manchester, 10,579 are dormant and 34,156 are not dormant and have filed accounts in the last 21 months. The figures below describe those 34,156 companies, unless a table says otherwise.

Together, the 22,151 companies that reported at least one employee reported 112,475 employees in their latest accounts. The median among them is 2.

By size of accounts

Companies in Manchester by accounts category
Accounts category	Companies	Share
Micro-entity accounts	16,642	48.7%
Small company accounts	17,204	50.4%
Medium company accounts	41	0.1%
Medium or large company accounts	10	0.0%
Category not known	259	0.8%

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 Manchester by average number of employees
Average employees	Companies	Share
None or not reported	12,005	35.1%
1 to 4	18,162	53.2%
5 to 9	1,994	5.8%
10 to 49	1,740	5.1%
50 to 249	232	0.7%
250 or more	23	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 Manchester by years since incorporation
Years since incorporation	Companies	Share
Under 2 years	43,379	40.4%
2 to 4 years	20,723	19.3%
5 to 9 years	21,794	20.3%
10 to 19 years	14,884	13.8%
20 years or more	6,706	6.2%

All active companies, dormant ones included.

By year of incorporation

Active companies in Manchester by year of incorporation
Incorporated in	Companies
2021	5,991
2022	6,449
2023	7,994
2024	10,550
2025	18,170

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 Manchester, with the number of companies each median is taken from
Figure	Median	Companies reporting it
Net assets	£5,975	27,590
Employees (companies with one or more)	2	22,151
Cash at bank	£12,586	14,582
Cash at bank per employee	£6,245	10,821
Fixed assets per employee	£3,774	11,172

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.

12,951 of the 24,245 companies with net assets for two consecutive years (53.4%) 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 Manchester.
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: 9,366 of the 34,156 companies with recent accounts (27.4%) are registered at an address shared by 50 or more companies, such as an accountant's office. Those companies may trade somewhere else.