Zürich, Switzerland

What Zurich is made of: the communities whose institutions are here, the sectors its 23,908 businesses sit in, the franchises already on the ground, and the services a newcomer could start.

23,908 businesses on file · 60 trades · 55 sectors · registry population 436,551 · built from geonet.zurich on 2026-10-27

Businesses23,908
100% carry coordinates
Specialised in7
trades above the national pattern
Places of worship1
Franchise brands53
already operating here

Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for Zurich → — the free guidebook for this region: why go, what to see, what is open when it rains.

1

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.

The two biggest markets here

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.

Business density54.8
businesses per 1,000 residents, against the registry population of 436,551
Breadth of the base1861
narrow — 45 industry groups, top three 66.7%
Survival the mix implies55.5%
at five years, against 51.4% for all private establishments
Coded to NAICS12.3%
of which 91.3% unambiguous

What this city is specialised in

Location quotient is this city's share of a trade divided by the same share across 26 metro tables worldwide. Above 1.25 is the conventional threshold for a local specialisation.

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.

Enter
38.6%
1,135 businesses
Caution
23.8%
699 businesses
Structure decides
37.6%
1,104 businesses
Not screened
0%
0 businesses

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 100% 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.

2

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 ch-zurich 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.

3

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.

CommunityInstitutions WorshipTrade Where it shows
Swiss 1 — 113
trade on Bahnhofstrasse 84 (2) · Talacker 41 (2) · Herzogstrasse 14 (2) · Köschenrütistrasse 109 (2)
Swiss Postal Technology Export Association
Thai 1 — 18
Thai Cooking School of Switzerland
Chinese 1 — 6
Chinese Association for Technology and Economy Esc
South Asian — — 14
German — — 14
trade on Gutenbergstrasse 10 (2)
Italian — — 12
Spanish-speaking — — 6
Jewish — — 6
French — — 3
trade on Merkurstrasse 34 (2)
Indigenous — — 3
Korean — — 2
Brazilian — — 2
Czech — — 2
Islamic — — 2
Filipino — — 1
Malaysian — — 1
Greek — — 1
Portuguese — — 1
Polish — — 1
Hungarian — — 1
Bulgarian — — 1
Austrian — — 1
Turkish — — 1
Afghan — — 1
Arabic-speaking — — 1
Caribbean — — 1
Irish — — 1
4

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.

Swiss

trade on Bahnhofstrasse 84 (2) · Talacker 41 (2) · Herzogstrasse 14 (2) · Köschenrütistrasse 109 (2)
5

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 23,908 businesses actually are, and the specific trades inside each sector.

SectorBusinesses ShareWhat is in it
Dining 871 3.6% restaurant (848) · pizza (11) · steakhouse (6) · pubs (4) · burgers (1) · diner (1)
Business 817 3.4% consulting (797) · association (9) · bank (6) · foundation (3) · accounting (1) · auction (1)
Automotive 296 1.2% autos (296)
Travel 285 1.2% hotel (173) · travel agent (94) · airline (17) · parking (1)
Finance 232 1% bank (232)
Tech 199 0.8% computers (174) · telecom (23) · wireless (2)
cafes 179 0.7%
massage 177 0.7%
movies 98 0.4%
Entertainment 61 0.3% museum (31) · nightclub (17) · zoo (12) · aquarium (1)
spas 51 0.2%
travelagents 42 0.2%
Food 37 0.2% catering (34) · baker (2) · seafood (1)
booksmusic 35 0.1%
Retail 29 0.1% photography (9) · flowers (8) · antiques (7) · pet supply (4) · toys (1)
Media 20 0.1% advertising (15) · signs (5)
emergency 20 0.1%
Sports 18 0.1% martial arts (9) · boating marine (6) · golf course (3)
fitness 16 0.1%
taxis 16 0.1%
6

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.

39 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.

BrandCategory HereWorldwide
AG Jeans retail 4 —
The Body Shop retail 3 —
Carlson Wagonlit Travel travel 2 4,300
Alamo Rent A Car car 1 1,000
Christian Dior fashion 1 —
Crystal Glass auto 1 —
Estée Lauder inc 1 —
Laura Ashley retail 1 —
Leading Hotels of the World accommodation 1 400
Lions Club club 1 —
Little Gym school 1 —
Pizza Hut pizza 1 10,000
Rotary Club club 1 —
Salvatore Ferragamo retail 1 —
HESS name only fuel 21 1,250
Denner name only supermarket 17 580
Hofer name only supermarket 17 —
Aldo name only retail 10 —
Migrol name only fuel 10 360
Limited name only retail 7 —
Tiffany name only retail 4 150
Cartier name only retail 3 —
Diana name only supermarket 3 3
Irma name only supermarket 3 71
Jacob name only retail 3 200
Midas name only auto 3 1,800
Benetton name only retail 2 —
Intersport name only retail 2 60
TUMI name only retail 2 —
AEON name only retail 1 —
Beltone name only specialty 1 1,500
Burberry name only retail 1 —
Centra name only convenience 1 350
Champion name only supermarket 1 1,000
Clarion name only businesshotel 1 —
Coach name only luggage 1 —
COSI name only food 1 —
Dillons name only supermarket 1 18
Esprit name only retail 1 —
Europcar name only car 1 2,825
Honda name only car 1 —
Hyatt name only upscalehotel 1 —
MANGO name only retail 1 850
Manor name only retail 1 —
Marriott name only upscalehotel 1 2,800
Mitsubishi name only auto 1 —
Netto name only supermarket 1 371
Nissan name only auto 1 —
Raffles name only luxuryhotel 1 8
Sofitel name only luxuryhotel 1 —
Swissotel name only upscalehotel 1 28
Volkswagen name only — 1 —
Wolford name only retail 1 —
7

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.

Selling homes

5312
5 firms · LQ 0.03

Offices of agents and brokers — the resale market, and the biggest single trade in most Canadian cities.

Named in the register

Who actually owns it

The full property record →

From the /property research for this city, which asks a different question: not who trades in property here, but who owns it. An owner is named there only where a document says so. Owner public by law, free online per parcel via Swiss SMS, 5 a day; no bulk.

Landowners

  • City of Zürich — Liegenschaften Stadt Zürich (LSZ) and four municipal housing foundations (incl. Stiftung PWG, SAW, SFW, SEW) — ~15,600 non-profit flats (communal bodies); CHF 358M of purchases in 2023
  • Housing cooperatives (Wohnbaugenossenschaften) — e.g. Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich (ABZ), Bau- und Wohngenossenschaft KraftWerk1, Genossenschaft WOGENO Zürich, Baugenossenschaft mehr als wohnen — ~41,000 flats at cost rent, ~5,500 of them on City ground-lease land
  • Swiss Confederation — ETH Domain (ETH Board as federal property body) — portfolio balance-sheet value ~CHF 4.3bn (all Switzerland)
  • SBB AG (Swiss Federal Railways) — SBB Real Estate — Europaallee: ~195,000 m2 across six uses (office, residential, education, services, retail, gastronomy)
  • Canton of Zürich — 33% plus one share of Flughafen Zürich AG
  • Ownership structure of all flats (Statistik Stadt Zürich) — private companies 33%, natural persons 32%, cooperatives ~18%, condominium 10%, public sector 7%

Homebuilders

  • City of Zürich and its housing foundations (Liegenschaften Stadt Zürich, Stiftung PWG, SAW, SFW, SEW) — 450 new + ~650 bought, 2020–2023
  • Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich (ABZ) — 204 (Koch-Areal B, 2023) + 174 (Hardturm, 2028) + share of 220
  • Bau- und Wohngenossenschaft KraftWerk1 — 124 (Koch-Areal C, 2023)
  • Genossenschaft WOGENO Zürich (with Stiftung Familienwohnungen) — 160 (Thurgauerstrasse West D, 2029)
  • Baugenossenschaft Sonnengarten / Gemeinnützige Bau- und Mietergenossenschaft Zürich / SAW — 420 (Areal Grünwald, 2028)

Commercial landlords

  • PSP Swiss Property AG — 74 Zürich-address property pages; portfolio CHF 10.2bn (all Switzerland)
  • Swiss Prime Site AG — 127 properties, CHF 14,005.3M fair value, 1,565,528 m2 lettable (all Switzerland, 30 Jun 2026)

10 marquee buildings examined, 8 with an owner established.

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 Zürich property record for the city, building by building, which is a different and much slower exercise.

8

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 186 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. 0 of them already match a trait filed in this city's register.

The 186 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.

9

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.

InstitutionTypeStudentsFounded
ETH Zürich University — 1855
University of Zurich 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.

school 13daycare 1
10

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.

Medical clinics0
Pharmacies0
Dental practices0

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.

13

Funded & hiring here

Companies in this city that have raised money, and the careers pages of employers here, from the /employers research and the company database. For someone looking for work here, this is the shortlist.

Funded here — 1 company has raised money

A fresh round usually means hiring. Largest raise first; the amount links to its source where one is on file, and the currency is as the source wrote it.

CompanyRaisedStaff hereJobs
GenTwoFintech$15M87Careers →

Careers pages — 17 more employers here

Each link goes to the company's own careers page or official job board, not a third-party listing site. Largest local staff first.

Also based here — 1 researched company

Companies and software vendors from the market research whose home in the company database is this city, with the market they were researched in. No careers page is on file for these yet.

CompanyResearched inStaff here
ABBNavigational, measuring, medical and control instruments manufacturingNavigational, Measuring & Control Instruments
Transformer & Switchgear Plant
—
14

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.
  • 0.0% of businesses here carry no coordinates, so a map or address lookup would miss them. Postal codes reach 100%.

Built from

  • geonet.zurich — the local business register
  • wander.regions — city name, population, metro
  • search.local — trait vocabulary and the come-to-you services
  • search.cozfranchises — 2,024 franchise brands