Copenhagen (København), Denmark
What Copenhagen is made of: the communities whose institutions are here, the sectors its 13,280 businesses sit in, the franchises already on the ground, and the services a newcomer could start.
13,280 businesses on file · 33 trades · 40 sectors · registry population 1,400,000 · built from geonet.denmark on 2026-10-27
Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for Copenhagen → — 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 26 metro tables worldwide. Above 1.25 is the conventional threshold for a local specialisation.
| Industry group | LQ | Businesses | Entry signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7225 Full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places — Independent Restaurant Operation | 12.02 | 891 | Structure decides+1 more |
| 5221 Depository credit intermediation | 5.12 | 103 | Caution |
| 4591 Sporting goods, hobby and musical instrument retailers | 5.03 | 50 | Caution |
| 5615 Travel arrangement and reservation services — Luxury Travel Advisory & Tour Operations | 3.03 | 44 | Caution |
| 7211 Traveller accommodation — Small Motel & Roadside Accommodation Acquisition | 2.82 | 90 | Structure decides |
| 8121 Personal care services | 1.81 | 77 | Caution+1 more |
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.
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 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.
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 dk-copenhagen 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.
People and languages
Who lives here and the languages business runs in: population and age from the statistics offices, and the share who can hold a conversation in English and other languages from the EU’s 2024 language survey. Each figure says whether it covers the city, the region or the whole country.
Languages spoken
- Official: Danish
- The census here does not ask about language, so no shares are given.
Doing business in English (and other languages)
- English 90% can hold a conversation (country, 2023) European Commission
- German 50% can hold a conversation (country, 2023) European Commission
- Swedish 14% can hold a conversation (country, 2023) European Commission
- French 11% can hold a conversation (country, 2023) European Commission
- Spanish 9% can hold a conversation (country, 2023) European Commission
Share of residents aged 15+ in DK who speak English as mother tongue or well enough to hold a conversation (D48.alllang). As a foreign language only (D48.otherlang): 87%. Fieldwork Sept-Oct 2023, published 2024.
Age: under 15 13.9% · 15–64 75% · 65 and over 11.1% (city (Copenhagen Municipality), 2026) Statistics Denmark (Danmarks Statistik) · 332,181 households
Not established: Denmark keeps no register of languages spoken; no city language shares found.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danish | 1 | — | 9 |
KISSDanish Language School Københavns Intensiv |
| Thai | — | — | 11 | |
| Chinese | — | — | 10 | |
| Italian | — | — | 9 | |
| Spanish-speaking | — | — | 7 | |
| Dutch | — | — | 3 | trade on Vesterbrogade 6 D (2)
|
| South Asian | — | — | 2 | |
| Slovak | — | — | 2 | |
| German | — | — | 2 | |
| Irish | — | — | 2 | |
| Korean | — | — | 1 | |
| Japanese | — | — | 1 | |
| Polish | — | — | 1 | |
| Russian | — | — | 1 | |
| Austrian | — | — | 1 | |
| Swiss | — | — | 1 | |
| Persian | — | — | 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.
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 13,280 businesses actually are, and the specific trades inside each sector.
| Sector | Businesses | Share | What is in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dining | 904 | 6.8% | restaurant (774) · pizza (100) · pubs (13) · diner (9) · steakhouse (7) · burgers (1) |
| Travel | 146 | 1.1% | motel (62) · travel agent (44) · hotel (28) · airline (11) · bnb (1) |
| sports | 133 | 1% | |
| cafes | 110 | 0.8% | |
| Finance | 103 | 0.8% | bank (103) |
| Beauty | 77 | 0.6% | hair stylist (77) |
| Entertainment | 72 | 0.5% | games (50) · museum (20) · zoo (2) |
| movies | 45 | 0.3% | |
| beautysalons | 32 | 0.2% | |
| booksmusic | 24 | 0.2% | |
| Sports | 22 | 0.2% | boating marine (10) · martial arts (9) · golf course (3) |
| Business | 14 | 0.1% | consulting (14) |
| emergency | 13 | 0.1% | |
| travelagents | 12 | 0.1% | |
| Media | 10 | 0.1% | signs (7) · advertising (3) |
| Retail | 10 | 0.1% | antiques (6) · photography (3) · gifts (1) |
| Tech | 10 | 0.1% | computers (6) · telecom (4) |
| fitness | 9 | 0.1% | |
| sandwiches | 9 | 0.1% | |
| Education | 7 | 0.1% | school (7) |
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.
24 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blockbuster Video | video | 8 | 5,900 |
| 7-Eleven | convenience | 4 | 30,000 |
| Carlson Wagonlit Travel | travel | 2 | 4,300 |
| Pizza Hut | pizza | 2 | 10,000 |
| Accor Hotels | inc | 1 | 1,000 |
| Burger King | fastfood | 1 | 11,000 |
| Merry Maids | cleaner | 1 | 970 |
| Pasta House | food | 1 | 30 |
| Jacob name only | retail | 15 | 200 |
| Irma name only | supermarket | 9 | 71 |
| Esprit name only | retail | 4 | — |
| Netto name only | supermarket | 4 | 371 |
| Radisson name only | upscalehotel | 3 | — |
| Europcar name only | car | 2 | 2,825 |
| Gucci name only | — | 2 | 207 |
| Limited name only | retail | 2 | — |
| Benetton name only | retail | 1 | — |
| Blackwell name only | book | 1 | 6 |
| Centra name only | convenience | 1 | 350 |
| Coach name only | luggage | 1 | — |
| COSI name only | food | 1 | — |
| Diana name only | supermarket | 1 | 3 |
| HEMA name only | retail | 1 | 200 |
| Intersport name only | retail | 1 | 60 |
| Kingfisher name only | home | 1 | 680 |
| Marriott name only | upscalehotel | 1 | 2,800 |
| Midas name only | auto | 1 | 1,800 |
| Mitsubishi name only | auto | 1 | — |
| Nissan name only | auto | 1 | — |
| Progressive name only | supermarket | 1 | 150 |
| Tiffany name only | retail | 1 | 150 |
| Versace name only | designerclothing | 1 | 61 |
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.
home services
services
events
pets
luxury
healthcare
sporting goods
sports
business
outdoors
travel
construction
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UCPH | University | — | 1479 |
| University of Copenhagen | 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"
- Amager Hospital — Italiensvej 1
- Bispebjerg Hospital — Bispebjerg Bakke 23
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.
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 — 2 companies have 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.
Careers pages — 18 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.
| Company | Staff here | Jobs |
|---|---|---|
| MaerskLogistics | 89,000 | Careers → |
| DFDSLogistics | 8,200 | Careers → |
| netcompany | 3,500 | Careers → |
| Capital FourFinance | — | Careers → |
| CoinifyFintech | — | Careers → |
| Famly | — | Careers → |
| linkfire softwareSoftware | — | Careers → |
| LundbeckHealth | — | Careers → |
| Maria Black | — | Careers → |
| Moss CopenhagenFashion | — | Careers → |
| Norse ProjectsFashion | — | Careers → |
| OrtofonEntertainment | — | Careers → |
| Podio softwareSoftware | — | Careers → |
| Queue-it | — | Careers → |
| smartURLBusiness | — | Careers → |
| Templafy softwareSoftware | — | Careers → |
| Unity softwareSoftware | — | Careers → |
| VENZO | — | Careers → |
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.
- 7.8% of businesses here carry no coordinates, so a map or address lookup would miss them. Postal codes reach 100%.
Built from
geonet.denmark— the local business registerwander.regions— city name, population, metrosearch.local— trait vocabulary and the come-to-you servicessearch.cozfranchises— 2,024 franchise brands