Amsterdam, Netherlands

What Amsterdam is made of: the communities whose institutions are here, the sectors its 38,414 businesses sit in, the franchises already on the ground, and the services a newcomer could start.

38,414 businesses on file · 71 trades · 60 sectors · registry population 941,873 · built from geonet.amsterdam on 2026-10-27

Businesses38,414
97% carry coordinates
Specialised in3
trades above the national pattern
Places of worship1
Franchise brands76
already operating here
Known for

Red Light District, escorts, hemp bars, EDM, dance music, Anne Frank House, Anne Frank museum, art museums

Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for Amsterdam → — 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 density40.8
businesses per 1,000 residents, against the registry population of 941,873
Breadth of the base2483
narrow — 54 industry groups, top three 62.4%
Survival the mix implies57%
at five years, against 51.4% for all private establishments
Coded to NAICS11.2%
of which 79.9% unambiguous

What this city is specialised in

Location quotient is this city's share of a trade divided by the same share across 1 NL metro tables. 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
7.6%
325 businesses
Caution
24.8%
1,067 businesses
Structure decides
67.7%
2,912 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 nl-amsterdam 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.

P

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.

Population1,073,736
metro 2024
Median age38
region (NUTS 3 NL329 Groot-Amsterdam, NUTS 2021) 2023
Foreign-born or foreign citizens37.5%
2024
Employment rate84.4%
region (NUTS 2 NL32 Noord-Holland) 2025

Languages spoken

  • Official: Dutch
  • The census here does not ask about language, so no shares are given.

Doing business in English (and other languages)

Share of residents aged 15+ in NL who speak English as mother tongue or well enough to hold a conversation (D48.alllang). As a foreign language only (D48.otherlang): 93%. Fieldwork Sept-Oct 2023, published 2024.

Age: under 15 13.6% · 15–64 72.1% · 65 and over 14.3% (greater city (Urban Audit NL001C), 2024) Eurostat · 583,974 households, 1.81 people each

Not established: CBS StatLine OData is disallowed by opendata.cbs.nl robots.txt, so municipality-level figures were not fetched; figures are for Eurostat's 'greater city'.; The Netherlands has no census language question; no city language shares found.

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
Dutch 3 — 288
trade on AMSTELDIJK 166 (3) · Overschiestr 184 (2) · Ryswykstr 175 (2) · VLOTHAVENWEG 16 (2)
SOSA Amsterdam Hogeschool Inholland · DUTCH PAPER COMPANY BV · School for Dutch The
German 1 — 7
AUTORIJSCHOOL DICK GERMANN
Caribbean 1 — 5
DANSSCHOOL CARIBBEAN SALSA
Japanese 1 — 3
Japanese School of Amsterdam The
Thai — — 40
Italian — — 32
Chinese — — 13
Spanish-speaking — — 7
French — — 7
Russian — — 4
Swiss — — 4
Jewish — — 4
Indigenous — — 4
Korean — — 3
Filipino — — 2
Malaysian — — 2
Persian — — 2
Islamic — — 2
Irish — — 2
Scottish — — 2
Indonesian — — 1
Polish — — 1
Czech — — 1
Macedonian — — 1
Romanian — — 1
Bulgarian — — 1
Norwegian — — 1
Afghan — — 1
Arabic-speaking — — 1
Ethiopian — — 1
Somali — — 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.

Dutch

trade on AMSTELDIJK 166 (3) · Overschiestr 184 (2) · Ryswykstr 175 (2) · VLOTHAVENWEG 16 (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 38,414 businesses actually are, and the specific trades inside each sector.

SectorBusinesses ShareWhat is in it
Dining 2,039 5.3% restaurant (1674) · fast food (213) · pizza (128) · steakhouse (12) · pubs (5) · burgers (5) · diner (2)
cafes 551 1.4%
Travel 523 1.4% hotel (361) · travel agent (123) · airline (22) · motel (8) · parking (4) · bnb (3) · greenhouse (2)
Tech 516 1.3% computers (279) · telecom (233) · bank (2) · wireless (2)
Education 256 0.7% school (255) · library (1)
banks 246 0.6% insurance (1)
Entertainment 179 0.5% museum (74) · zoo (55) · amusement (30) · games (7) · aquarium (6) · fruit (6) · video producer (1)
Finance 174 0.5% bank (174)
Business 173 0.5% accounting (126) · consulting (35) · association (6) · foundation (4) · auction (1) · cemetary (1)
beautysalons 118 0.3%
movies 100 0.3%
plumbing 94 0.2% fruit (2)
booksmusic 68 0.2%
taxis 46 0.1%
Living 39 0.1% cleaning (22) · apartment (11) · furniture (4) · fire safety (1) · place of worship (1)
Beverage 38 0.1% beer (36) · liquor (2)
Sports 35 0.1% boating marine (15) · golf course (11) · martial arts (8) · insurance (1)
travelagents 33 0.1%
Retail 33 0.1% gifts (12) · antiques (11) · photography (8) · flowers (1) · toys (1)
flooring 22 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.

51 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
Albert Heijn convenience 51 700
Burger King fastfood 6 11,000
Budget Rent A Car car 5 1,900
Pizza Hut pizza 4 10,000
Carlson Wagonlit Travel travel 3 4,300
Sunglass Hut retail 3 —
Cash Converters retail 2 16
Crowne Plaza upscalehotel 2 —
Holiday Inn businesshotel 2 —
Anne Fontaine retail 1 —
Best Western businesshotel 1 4,200
Bon Ton retail 1 —
Country Style coffee 1 400
Great Plains retail 1 6
Hard Rock Cafe food 1 140
Kenneth Cole retail 1 —
Laura Ashley retail 1 —
Max Mara retail 1 —
Planet Hollywood food 1 18
Rent-A-Wreck car 1 —
Royal Mail post 1 14,300
Sign-A-Rama specialty 1 800
SIXT Rent A Car car 1 3,500
The Body Shop retail 1 —
Thomas Cook travel 1 700
Meijer name only supermarket 54 181
Limited name only retail 11 —
HEMA name only retail 9 200
C1000 name only retail 8 —
Esprit name only retail 8 —
Halfords name only retail 7 420
Renaissance name only upscalehotel 7 —
Jacob name only retail 6 200
AEON name only retail 4 —
Coach name only luggage 4 —
Nissan name only auto 4 —
Bijenkorf name only retail 3 12
Europcar name only car 3 2,825
Centra name only convenience 2 350
Diana name only supermarket 2 3
Irma name only supermarket 2 71
Jeep name only suv 2 —
MANGO name only retail 2 850
Midas name only auto 2 1,800
MONTBLANC name only retail 2 —
Oilily name only retail 2 —
Roxy name only retail 2 —
Aldi name only supermarket 1 5,000
Armani name only fashion 1 —
BachRach name only retail 1 —
Borders name only book 1 559
Cartier name only retail 1 —
easyHome locations name only retail 1 160
Fossil name only retail 1 —
Gucci name only — 1 207
HESS name only fuel 1 1,250
Hofer name only supermarket 1 —
Hooters name only food 1 435
IKEA name only retail 1 250
InterContinental name only luxuryhotel 1 —
Kingfisher name only home 1 680
Makro name only home 1 33
Michelin name only auto 1 —
Mitsubishi name only auto 1 —
Netto name only supermarket 1 371
Progressive name only supermarket 1 150
Radisson name only upscalehotel 1 —
Roots name only retail 1 145
Sears name only inc 1 2,300
Sofitel name only luxuryhotel 1 —
Stockmann name only retail 1 7
TCBY name only fastfood 1 —
Tiffany name only retail 1 150
TUMI name only retail 1 —
Wellcome name only retail 1 240
Xtravision name only video 1 205
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 0.93

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

Named in the register
  • Aver Real Estate — Plantagekd 13
  • European Real Estate Services — Postbus 95191
  • First Realty Group — Keizersgr 62
  • PF REAL ESTATE PROMOTION — GEUZENSTRAAT 15/3
  • REALTY MODE — ALBERT CUYPSTRAAT 222

Owning and letting

5311
11 firms · LQ 3.8

Lessors of real estate: the buildings themselves, filed under the building rather than the owner.

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 and last sale price for EUR 3.70, to anyone, no test.

Landowners

  • Gemeente Amsterdam (City of Amsterdam) — erfpacht ground landlord — more than 85% of the land inside the municipal boundary
  • Staat der Nederlanden — Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (RVB) — 11.5M+ m2 of buildings nationally; 41,556 ha agricultural land; 34,464 ha defence land
  • Port of Amsterdam (Havenbedrijf Amsterdam N.V.) — 1,995 ha land area; 620 ha harbour (Wikipedia)
  • Ymere — 42,963 units (40,942 self-contained; 38,738 social rent)
  • Eigen Haard — 35,414 units (34,968 self-contained; 31,719 social rent)
  • Stadgenoot — 29,906 units (29,707 self-contained; 27,977 social rent)

Homebuilders

  • Housing corporations — new build — c. 2,900 completed in 2025; 2,114 in 2024
  • AM (Koninklijke BAM Groep) — Bajes Kwartier — c. 1,350 homes planned on the former Bijlmerbajes site
  • Housing corporations (woningcorporaties) — owns 191,010 (+6,300) (2025, change since 2021)
  • Owner-occupiers (koopwoningen) — owns 148,400 (+18,525) (2025, change since 2021)
  • Companies — BVs and NVs — owns 61,210 (+10,725) (2025, change since 2021)
  • Natural persons letting privately — owns 59,030 (-1,480) (2025, change since 2021)

Commercial landlords

  • NSI N.V. — 21 Amsterdam assets, EUR 545M, 162k m2 lettable (31 Dec 2024)
  • Victory Group with G&S Vastgoed (consortium) — 66,581 m2 at Gustav Mahlerlaan 10; EUR 765M (Dec 2021)
  • RJB Group of Companies — Valley, 75,000 m2 GFA (mixed use, 200 apartments)
  • EPRA constituents — the listed European landlord universe

8 marquee buildings examined, 6 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 Amsterdam 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
UvAmsterdam University — 1632
VU 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 255
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

Matched on the name "hospital"

  • Hospital Serv OLVG BV — 1e Oosterparkstr 279
  • Health Centre — Kadoelenwg 169
  • Chagpori Tibetan Health Center — Binnenkant 45sou

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 — 4 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.

CompanyRaisedStaff hereJobs
Docplanner softwareOffices of physicians€300M—Careers →
Source.ag softwareGreenhouse, nursery and floriculture production$35MTotal disclosed at the $23M Series A (Mar 2023, led by Astanor Ventures); a later Series B reported but not confirmed on an opened page; acquired Optimal (London) Oct 2026—Careers →
Convious softwareAmusement and theme parks$20M—Careers →
BlockportFintech$15.88M—Careers →

Careers pages — 30 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.

CompanyStaff hereJobs
Booking.comTraveller accommodation24,500Careers →
VioTravel200Careers →
BUXFintech—Careers →
Crystal BlockchainFintech—Careers →
ElsevierMedia—Careers →
Escrow4all—Careers →
ExorFinance—Careers →
FindHotelTravel—Careers →
FramerDesign—Careers →
G-STAR—Careers →
G-Star RAW—Careers →
Inner CircleEntertainment—Careers →
Jacobs Douwe EgbertsBeverage—Careers →
KIIROO—Careers →
Philips softwareMedical and diagnostic laboratories—Careers →
PicnicLogistics—Careers →
Poki softwareSoftware—Careers →
Polaroid OriginalsFashion—Careers →
PolarstepsTravel—Careers →
PresscloudMedia—Careers →
PublitasMedia—Careers →
Recruitee softwareComputer systems design and related services (except video game design and development)—Careers →
Relay42 softwareTech—Careers →
SPARRetail—Careers →
SuitSupplyFashion—Careers →
5 more careers pages in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Surfshark softwareTech—Careers →
TomTom softwareSoftware—Careers →
Victron EnergyManufacturing—Careers →
WaterlandFinance—Careers →
Weaviate softwareSoftware—Careers →
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.
  • 2.9% of businesses here carry no coordinates, so a map or address lookup would miss them. Postal codes reach 100%.

Built from

  • geonet.amsterdam — 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