Bucharest (București), Romania

What Bucharest is made of: the communities whose institutions are here, the sectors its 16,222 businesses sit in, the franchises already on the ground, and the services a newcomer could start.

Business register for this city: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0 — named shops, offices, trades and services, which undercounts businesses that are not mapped.

16,222 businesses on file · 140 trades · 27 sectors · registry population 1,710,000 · built from geonet.romania on 2026-10-27

Businesses16,222
100% carry coordinates
Specialised in12
trades above the national pattern
Places of worship0
Franchise brands65
already operating here
Known for

Paris of the East

Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for Bucharest → — 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 density9.5
businesses per 1,000 residents, against the registry population of 1,710,000
Breadth of the base1801
narrow — 41 industry groups, top three 63.5%
Survival the mix implies59.2%
at five years, against 51.4% for all private establishments
Coded to NAICS46.6%
of which 84.5% 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.

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.

Enter
12.5%
947 businesses
Caution
45.2%
3,418 businesses
Structure decides
42.3%
3,202 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 ro-bucharest 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.

Population1,709,191
city 2025
Median age42.8
city 2025
Employment rate81.1%
region 2025

Languages spoken

Doing business in English (and other languages)

Special Eurobarometer 540: share of residents aged 15+ who can hold a conversation in English as a non-mother-tongue language (EU27 average 47%). Fieldwork Sept-Oct 2023, published May 2024.

Age: under 15 15.1% · 15–64 65.3% · 65 and over 19.6% (city, 2025) Eurostat · 722,198 households

Not established: Romanian/Hungarian/Romani national shares are from a news report citing INS; not checked against the INS table.; Urban Audit figures for București are old: households 2002, median age 2008; population and age bands use the Eurostat NUTS 3 region RO321 instead.

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
Italian — — 11
trade on Șoseaua București-Ploiești 42D (2)
Turkish — — 10
German — — 9
Greek — — 8
French — — 8
Chinese — — 4
Thai — — 4
Romanian — — 4
Arabic-speaking — — 3
South Asian — — 2
Spanish-speaking — — 2
Swiss — — 2
Korean — — 1
Japanese — — 1
Lithuanian — — 1
Dutch — — 1
Islamic — — 1
Irish — — 1
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 16,222 businesses actually are, and the specific trades inside each sector.

SectorBusinesses ShareWhat is in it
Retail 5,421 33.4% convenience (1325) · pharmacy (849) · supermarket (631) · bakery (385) · jewelry (85) · books (77) · electronics (75) · toys (43)
Dining 1,972 12.2% restaurant (1948) · deli (23) · food (1)
Health 1,024 6.3% optician (182) · doctor (83) · hospital (83) · massage (38) · podiatrist (1)
Business 977 6% logistics (93) · research (30) · association (24) · consulting (7) · staffing (6) · religion (4) · foundation (2)
Fashion 944 5.8% clothing (765) · shoes (175) · wig (3) · hat (1)
Beverage 702 4.3% coffee (647) · alcohol (28) · wine (21) · beverages (6)
Finance 611 3.8% accounting (6)
Beauty 600 3.7% barber (337) · beauty salon (149) · cosmetics (99) · pet grooming (8) · tattoo (6) · spa (1)
Automotive 577 3.6% car repair (299) · car wash (158) · auto parts (91) · tires (17) · motorcycle (9) · truck (2) · trailer (1)
Living 550 3.4% florist (154) · furniture (100) · dry cleaning (59) · theatre (54) · houseware (18) · childcare (15) · appliance (11) · outdoor (9)
Travel 484 3% hotel (208) · museum (71) · laundry (22) · motel (11) · car rental (9) · bed and breakfast (7) · Christmas (1) · travel agent (1)
Entertainment 423 2.6% bar (235) · casino (100) · nightclub (38) · cinema (21) · lottery (13) · gambling (9) · zoo (3) · music (3)
Energy 274 1.7% fuel (274)
Education 216 1.3% university (126) · library (50) · college (20) · driving school (15) · training (1)
Food 183 1.1% candy (130) · ice cream (39) · health food (7) · seafood (5) · cheese (2)
Construction 122 0.8% paint (10) · tile (7) · flooring (4) · electrical (4) · HVAC (3) · carpet (3) · carpentry (2) · electrician (2)
Sports 100 0.6% sporting goods (61) · bicycle (30) · fishing (7) · hunting (2)
Realty 95 0.6% apartment (49) · studio (27) · real estate (18) · property management (1)
Media 63 0.4% printing (59) · publisher (4)
Tech 62 0.4% computers (62)
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.

36 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
Mega Image supermarket 256 16
McDonald's hamburger 39 31,800
Pizza Hut pizza 20 10,000
Burger King fastfood 9 11,000
Tommy Hilfiger retail 8 122
Calvin Klein mensunderwear 5 —
Taco Bell tacos 5 5,845
Cinema City entertainment 4 16
The Body Shop retail 4 —
Kiehl's retail 3 —
Marks & Spencer retail 3 742
Bath & Body Works health 2 1,555
Comfort Suites familyhotel 2 —
JD Sports retail 2 400
Max Mara retail 2 —
North Face retail 2 —
Victoria's Secret lingerie 2 900
Brooks Brothers retail 1 —
City Market supermarket 1 38
Courtyard by Marriott businesshotel 1 —
Crowne Plaza upscalehotel 1 —
DHL Express post 1 6,500
Hard Rock Cafe food 1 140
Harley Davidson locations motorcycle 1 —
Hilton Garden Inn businesshotel 1 —
Holiday Inn businesshotel 1 —
Le Château retail 1 195
Michael Kors retail 1 —
Wendy's hamburger 1 6,700
Carrefour name only supermarket 81 2,455
Kaufland name only supermarket 43 600
Auchan name only supermarket 37 472
Starbucks name only coffee 28 3,500
Sephora name only inc 13 —
Bebe name only retail 8 —
Intersport name only retail 8 60
IKEA name only retail 7 250
Roxy name only retail 7 —
MANGO name only retail 6 850
Toyota name only car 6 —
Aldo name only retail 5 —
Cartier name only retail 5 —
Honda name only car 5 —
Kenvelo name only retail 5 —
Mothercare name only retail 4 —
Lacoste name only — 3 —
Midas name only auto 3 1,800
Mitsubishi name only auto 3 —
Nissan name only auto 3 —
Armani name only fashion 2 —
AutoZone name only auto 2 3,800
Jeep name only suv 2 —
Lexus name only luxurycar 2 —
Marriott name only upscalehotel 2 2,800
MONTBLANC name only retail 2 —
Primark name only retail 2 160
Radisson name only upscalehotel 2 —
Volkswagen name only — 2 —
Burberry name only retail 1 —
Champion name only supermarket 1 1,000
InterContinental name only luxuryhotel 1 —
Mathnasium name only school 1 1,100
Sheraton name only upscalehotel 1 —
STIHL name only tools 1 —
TUMI 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
18 firms · LQ 0.04

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

Named in the register
  • Avangarde Grande Village — Drumul Valea Călmățuiului 7-21
  • Bragadiru Imobiliare
  • CHR Imobiliare — Cpt. Av. Alexandru Șerbănescu 45
  • CHR Imobiliare — Strada Căpitan Aviator Alexandru Șerbănescu 45
  • Departament Vanzari Cartierul Solar — Bulevardul Metalurgiei 132
  • Eugene Estate — Strada Lipscani 77
  • FALC Imobiliare
  • iCASA — Bulevardul Gheorghe Duca 13
  • Miramar
  • Nord Sub Imobiliare — Strada Livezi 1G
  • ONE Estate Romania — Strada Locotenent Aviator Marcel Andreescu 50
  • SudRezidential.ro
  • Tri Adymar imobiliare — Bulevardul Timișoara 43
  • Vision Apartaments — Calea Victoriei 26

Owning and letting

5311
76 firms · LQ 1.14

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

Named in the register

Managing for owners

5313
1 firms · LQ 0.04

Property managers, who run buildings the landlord does not.

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. Title public to anyone: RON 20 per extract online, RON 25 at the counter.

Landowners

  • Romanian State (public property; buildings assigned to administrators) — Palace of the Parliament, c. 330,000 m² floor area, administered by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate
  • Municipality of Bucharest (Municipiul București / PMB) — Administrația Fondului Imobiliar (AFI) — 4,050 City-owned flats let at regulated rents (Feb 2026); full property inventory begun March 2026
  • Compania Națională de Căi Ferate „CFR” S.A. (State railway infrastructure company) — Gara de Nord: over 33,000 m² in Phase I works, RON 499.6 million budget
  • Compania Națională Aeroporturi București S.A. (CNAB) — Ministry of Transport 80%, Fondul Proprietatea 20% — Runs Băneasa–Aurel Vlaicu airport (in the city) and Henri Coandă (605 ha, in Otopeni, outside it)
  • Romanian Patriarchate (Patriarhia Română, Romanian Orthodox Church) — 110,000 m² Arsenal Hill site given by protocol, 13 Feb 2006; 11-hectare National Cathedral complex
  • Regia Autonomă „Administrația Patrimoniului Protocolului de Stat” (RA-APPS) — Not established — the full list of its villas, flats and land was unpublished in May 2026

Homebuilders

  • One United Properties S.A. (BVB: ONE) — 375 units delivered in 2025; 577 units sold in 2025 (54,383 m²); 3,800+ under development; c. 2,800 expected to complete in 2026
  • Impact Developer & Contractor S.A. (BVB: IMP) — 2,200 villas and 3,600 apartments finished in 35 years; 970 units under construction (30 June 2026)

Commercial landlords

  • Globalworth Real Estate Investments Ltd — Bucharest offices: 12 investments, 18 properties, 461.3k m² GLA, GAV €1,158.8m (30 June 2026)
  • NEPI Rockcastle N.V. — 4 Bucharest retail assets: 183,300 m² GLA, valued €773.7m (31 Dec 2025); Romania 963,300 m², €2,749.9m
  • One United Properties S.A. — Commercial portfolio of over 144k m² GLA (31 Dec 2025); investment property RON 3,219.2 million
  • AFI Europe Romania (AFI Europe group) — AFI Cotroceni, AFI Ploiești and five AFI Park office buildings valued at €735m (30 Sept 2017)

12 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 Bucharest 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. 2 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
ASE Bucuresti University — —
Carol I National Defense University University — —
UAUIM University — —
UNArte University — —
University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest University — —
University of Bucharest University — —
UPB University — —
UTCB 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.

university 126college 20driving school 15
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
Pharmacies849
Dental practices0

Matched on the name "hospital"

  • Westeye Hospital — Calea Vitan 137-139
  • AIS Clinics & Hospital
  • Life Memorial Hospital — Calea Griviței 365
  • Royal Hospital — Splaiul Unirii 313A
  • Ponderas Academic Hospital — Strada Nicolae G. Caramfil 85A
  • Monza Metropolitan Hospital — Calea Șerban Vodă 95-101
  • Dental Hospital Romania — Strada Răcari 5
  • Dental Hospital Romania Militari — Intrarea Caravanei 9

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.

11

Mayor & politics

Who holds office here, from the official lists on /politics: the mayor and city council, and the national parliament members elected for the city. Each name opens its row there.

Mayor
not yet on file
57 on council
Member of Parliament
Circumscripția electorală nr. 42 București (Bucharest; one multi-member constituency for the whole municipality — 29 deputies sitting, 13 senators)
Provincial member
not yet on file
Last election
—
Romanian regular local elections (General Mayor of Bucharest, CGMB, sector mayors and councils)

Everyone who represents Bucharest →

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.

Careers pages — 4 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
Bitdefender softwareSoftware—Careers →
Continental Hotels—Careers →
Global RecordsEntertainment—Careers →
Quart 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.
  • 0.0% of businesses here carry no coordinates, so a map or address lookup would miss them. Postal codes reach 43.8%.

Built from

  • geonet.romania — 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